DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1920, No. 27 



SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF 

BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN 

COUNTY, GEORGIA 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1920 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1920, No. 27 



SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF 

BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN 

COUNTY, GEORGIA 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1920 






F 



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OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM 

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CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Preface 5 

Introduction 7 

1. Adopt a simple co3t-accounting system of records 8 

A plan described 8 

Accounting plan should show distributed costs 9 

Information required by the Federal Bureau of Education 10 

2. The superintendent should keep in orderly and systematic manner statistical 

information concerning significant matters relating to the schools 12 

Characteristics of an efficient school system 12 

Information which should be in the superintendent's office 13 

Such records easily kept 14 

3. Appoint an attendance officer on full time and require kim to keep a cumu- 

lative school census 14 

Duties of the attendance officer 15 

Value of a cumulative census record 15 

A tactful and thoroughly competent attendance officer nee le 1 16 

The need in Glynn County 10 

The attendance record of 77 children 17 

4. The holding power of the schools is low and should be increased 18 

Compulsory attendance law should be enforced 18 

Greater regularity of attendance 19 

Holding children in school 21 

Progress through the grades 22 

Observations on preceding tables 23 

5. Amend the special act under which the schools are controlled to provide for 

an elective board and to make the county a single taxation unit for school 

purposes 24 

Excellent features of the act 24 

The county should comprise a single unit for school taxation and expend- 
iture 24 

Interests of Brunswick and of adjacent country identical 24 

6. The system needs a stronger teaching staff and more effective classroom 

work 26 

In the elementary schools of Brunswick 26 

In the Brunswick High School 28 

Teaching in the rural schools 29 

Teaching in colored rural schools 30 

Adequate supervision should be provided for city and country schools. 30 

Provision should be made for improving teachers while in the service. . 32 

Provision for substitute teachers 33 

7. A new course of study should be prepared for the schools 33 

Content of the course of study 34 

Observations on organization 34 

The course of study in the high school 35 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

Page. 

8. The schools of Brunswick and of Glynn County suffer because of inadequate 

financial support 36 

The per capita school expenditure in Brunswick 36 

The quality of education offered 37 

Teacher's salaries too low 38 

The salary of Negro teachers 42 

The schools need a more liberal equipment 42 

High school needs a well-equipped library room 44 

9. The ability of Glynn County to provide a larger maintenance income for its 

schools 45 

Sources of income 45 

The proportionate amount which Brunswick expends on her schools. . . 47 

The tax rate of Brunswick 49 

The per capita value of Brunswick property 50 

The expenditure on the education of Negro children 50 

The buildings and equipment provided for Negro children 51 

The attitude of the Federal Bureau of Education on the education of 

Negro children '. 52 

10. To relieve the crowded buildings in Brunswick and yet keep within the 

limits of the bond issue the schools should be reorganized in accordance 

with the work-study-play plan 53 

A school building program is an engineering problem 54 

What is the school population of Brunswick 55 

The rate of increase in school population 55 

School congestion and lack of modern facilities 56 

Modern facilities are needed in elementary schools as well as in high 

schools 57 

How the work-study play plan would relieve congestion and provide 

modern facilities for the children 58 

City schools must provide opportunity for work and play as well as 

study 58 

How the plan works 59 

Principle of multiple use makes modern educational facilities finan- 
cially practicable 61 

Flexibility of the program 62 

The school takes over the street time of the child 62 

The Glynn Grammar School and the Glynn Academy 63 

The Purvis School 67 

The Risley School (colored) 68 

11. The board should adopt a comprehensive building plan 69 

Condition of buildings 69 

Advantages of consolidation 70 

Details to be considered 72 

Suggestions for relieving congestion 72 

Buildings for the colored children 74 

Equipment 74 

12. The showing made by the pupils of Brunswick and Glynn County in the 

standard educational measurement tests given 75 



PREFACE. 



This study comprises the report of the United States Commis- 
sioner of Education upon the schools of Brunswick, Ga., and of 
Glynn County, in which Brunswick is located, made upon the request 
of the board of education of Glynn County. To assist him in making 
this study the commissioner appointed the following commission: 

Frank F. Bunker, specialist in city school systems, Bureau of Education, director 
of the survey. 

Katherine M. Cook, specialist in rural education, Bureau of Education. 

Alice Barrows Fernandez, specialist in social and industrial relations in education, 
Bureau of Education. 

In response to the request of the board of education, the commis- 
sion in its study of the schools gave most attention to matters relat- 
ing to organization and administration; to school finance ; to building 
needs; and to courses of study, methods of teaching, and teacher 
qualifications in both the city and rural schools. While it has not 
been possible within the space limits set for the report to cover 
every detail, it is believed t':at those which are of chief importance 
have been discussed and le commendations pertaining thereto 
submitted. 

5 



SURVEY OF THE SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND 
OF GLYNN COUNTY, GEORGIA. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The history of education in Brunswick, Ga., and the County of 
Glynn, in which Brunswick is situated, is unique and most interesting. 

Brunswick was probably founded about 1771, on land allotted by 
Gen. Oglethorpe, though it is improbable that the city was laid out 
by Oglethorpe himself, as tradition would have it. At the time of 
the original survey a large tract surrounding the town, except on 
the west, was likewise surveyed and set apart as the town commons. 
By 1775, 179 of the town lots had been issued to persons desirous of 
obtaining them. Most of these lot holders were Tories, who fled to 
England when the war came on, whereupon their lands were confis- 
cated by the State. 

From 1783 to 1788 the State regranted several of these lots; so 
it came about that by the latter date there were several families who 
had established themselves in Brunswick. These decided that the 
boundaries of their lots should be reestablished and that facilities 
should be provided for the education of their children. So in 1788 
an act of the general assembly was passed appointing certain commis- 
sioners whose duty it was to survey and sell any lot in Brunswick 
not reserved for public use, the proceeds to be used for the erection 
and maintenance of an academy and for no other purpose. In 1796 
a further enactment was made by the general assembly whereby the 
commissioners were authorized to rent or lease the commons and to 
sell lots which had reverted, the proceeds to go to the support of 
Glynn Academy. By successive acts of the legislature those pro- 
visions for deriving funds for educational purposes were confirmed. 

For nearly a hundred years the educational interests of Brunswick 
and of Glynn County were vested in the board of trustees of Glynn 
County Academy. In 1873 the General Assembly of Georgia passed 
an act which provided that the control of the schools of Brunswick 
and of Glynn County should be transferred from the trustees of 
Glynn County Academy to a county board of education organized 
very nearly as it is to-day. This act was specifically recognized in 
the Georgia constitution of 1877, and the authority which the act 
granted the Glynn County board was expressly reserved. So it comes 
about that the school system of Glynn County is one of four pre- 

7 



8 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

constitutional county systems of the State (the other three being 
Richmond, Chatham, and Bibb Counties) , all operating under special 
acts of the general assembly recognized by the State constitution of 

1877. 

/. ADOPT A SIMPLE COST ACCOUNTING SYSTEM OF RECORDS. 

The school system of Glynn County is a business enterprise in 
one of its important aspects. A public business, quite as much as 
one of private character, should be administered on sound business 
principles. The head of a successful private business is never in any 
uncertainty or confusion about the essential facts of his business or 
about the state of his finances. The first step a good business man 
takes in organizing a business is to adopt a system of accounting 
which, aside from keeping an exact check upon receipts and expen- 
ditures, will tell him exactly what he needs to know about every 
department of his business. Without this information and this 
check, his judgments would be blind judgments. 

The Glynn County board of education has a system of accounting, 
but it does not tell the things about the school business of Glynn 
County that the board of directors and the stockholders (the citizens) 
need to know. It is not a convenient system, for it requires work 
which is unnecessary. Neither does it provide a proper check, for 
the books of the various officials concerned will not balance with 
one another, in consequence of which the annual audit which the 
law requires has had to be postponed. 

A PLAN DESCRIBED. 

A simple yet adequate system would start with the order itself 
requiring that all expenditures beyond emergency matters of limited 
amount should be formally authorized by act of the board, after a 
careful estimate of the expense involved had been submitted. A 
formal order or requisition, giving the necessary detail, should there- 
upon be issued for every transaction without exception on blanks 
provided for the purpose. The original and a carbon copy should 
go to the contracting party, and a carbon copy should remain in 
the order book, on which should be entered the estimated cost. A 
cumulative aggregate of the estimated costs of all unpaid orders 
would enable the board to tell at a given time very nearly what its 
outstanding debts were. 

When the order is filled or the contract completed, an itemized bill 
together with the original order should be filed with the clerk of the 
board and presented at its regular monthly meeting, whereupon, 
if approved; it should be ordered paid. 



ADOPTION OF AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. 9 

Payment should be made on a check in carbon duplicate, the orig- 
inal to be signed by the president of the board and the superin- 
tendent of schools. The check should carry on its face a brief state- 
ment of the transaction for which payment is being made, also the 
account to which it is to be posted on the clerk's books. The carbon 
duplicate remains in the clerk's hands. This signed check should 
then be presented to the custodian of the board's funds, either directly 
or by way of some bank, and paid. Once per month, or oftener if 
desired, the custodian should return the canceled checks to the 
clerk with a statement of the cash balance in the fund, who should 
file them for reference along with the itemized bills. 

ACCOUNTING PLAN SHOULD SHOW DISTRIBUTED COSTS. 

Such a plan, easily executed by an intelligent clerk, provides a 
complete check at every step through which a transaction passes and 
with a minimum amount of work: it also enables the board to know 
at a given time its cash balance and very closely the amount of its 
indebtedness. There is another important matter, however, about 
which a board of education should be fully informed, and that is the 
amount per child in average daily attendance, in every school under 
its jurisdiction, which the board is expending, expressed in terms of 
salaries, repairs to buildings, permanent equipment, supplies, fuel, etc. 

By a simple arrangement of books, under the operation of the 
foregoing plan, the clerk can readily open an account with each 
school and charge to each, under the proper subdivision, each item 
when a warrant is drawn. From month to month, or at the close of 
any other period, the board can know how the children of a given 
school are faring in terms of money expended for their schooling. 
From the books kept in such manner also the annual financial reports 
desired for comparative purposes by the State superintendent of 
education and by the Federal bureau can quickly and accurately be 
compiled. 

Such a plan could best be operated by appointing one of the banks 
the custodian of the board's funds, as the law permits. To employ 
an individual to serve as the board's treasurer, as now, under such a 
plan, would be a useless expenditure. 

Fortunately, across the hall from the superintendent's office a 
simple and thoroughly adequate system of the character described 
has been introduced by the clerk of the county commissioners. It 
would be well for the board of education to employ him to introduce 
this plan, modified to suit the needs of the school department, and to 
instruct the board's clerk in its operation. 



10 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

INFORMATION REQUIRED BY THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION. 

The Federal Bureau of Education biennially calls for information 
concerning receipts and expenditures of all school systems of the 
country. It compiles the results, publishing tables and charts, which 
enables any system to compare itself in all such matters with other 
systems of the United States. Most systems are now keeping their 
books in a way such that it is easy therefrom to fill in the blank forms 
issued by the bureau. Brunswick and Glynn County should do like- 
wise. For convenience the items called for in the report which all 
city systems are asked to make are listed below. 

ITEMS CALLED FOR BY FEDERAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION IN REPORT 

OF CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 

A. — Receipts. 

1. Income from permanent funds 

2. Income from leases of school lands 

3. Appropriations from general funds 

4. Federal allotment for vocational education (paid through the State) 

5. From taxation (property, business, poll taxes, etc.), for all school purposes, includ- 

ing debt obligations 

6. From other school districts for tuition 

7. All other revenue receipts (fines and penalties, gifts, bequests, contribution, rents, 

interest, tuition fees from patrons only, etc.) 

Total revenue receipts (1-7, inclusive) 

8. Nonre venue receipts: 

(a) From loans and bond sales 

(6) From sales of property and proceeds of insurance adjustments 

(c) Other nonrevenue receipts 

9. Balance on hand from previous school year (do not include in preceding totals). . 
Whole amount available for use during the year 

B. — Payments. 

ALL SCHOOLS. 

I. Expenses of General Control {overhead charges) . 

10. School elections 

11. Board of education and secretary's office 

12. Finance offices and accounts 

13. Offices in charge of buildings and supplies 

14. Legal services 

15. Operation and maintenance of office buildings 

16. Superintendents of schools and their offices (cf . Item I, Part I) 

17. Enforcement of compulsory education, truancy laws, and census enumeration. .. 

18. Other expenses of general control 

19. Total (10-18, inclusive) 

II. (A) Expenses of Instruction for Every Type of Day School in System. 

20. Salaries of supervisors of grades and subjects (cf. Item 2, Part I). 

21. Other expenses of supervisors 

22. Salaries of principals (cf . Item 3, Part I) 

23. Salaries of principals' clerks and assistants 



ADOPTION" OF AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. 11 

24. Other expenses of principals' offices 

25. Other expenses of supervision 

26. Salaries of teachers: 

(a) Paid to men 

(6) Paid to women 

27. Textbooks 

28. Supplies used in instruction 

29. Other expenses of instruction 

30. Total for instruction — Day schools (20-29, inclusive) 

II. (B) Expenses of Instruction for Night Schools in System. 

31. Salaries of supervisors of grades and subjects 

32. Other expenses of supervisors 

33. Salaries of principals 

34. Salaries of principals' clerks and assistants 

35. Other expenses of principals' offices 

36. Other expenses of supervision 

37. Salaries of teachers: 

(a) Paid to men 

(6) Paid to women 

38. Textbooks 

39. Supplies used in instruction 

40. Other expenses of instruction 

41. Total for instruction — Night schools (31-40, inclusive) 

III. Expenses of Operation of School Plant (all schools). 

42. Wages of janitors and other employees 

43 . Fuel 

44. Water 

45. Light and power 

46. Janitors' supplies 

47. Other expenses of operation of school plant 

48. Total for operation (42-47, inclusive) 

IV. Expenses of Maintenance of School Plant. 

49. Repair of buildings and upkeep of grounds 

50. Repair and replacement of equipment 

51. Other expenses of maintenance of schools 

52. Total for maintenance (49-51, inclusive) 

V. Expenses of Auxiliary Agencies and Sundry Activities. 

53. Libraries (exclude books) 

54. Books for libraries 

55. Promotion of health 

56. Transportation of pupils. % 

57. Care of children in institutions 

58. Provision of lunches 

59. Community lectures 

60. Social centers 

61 . Recreation 

62. Other auxiliary agencies and sundry activities 

63. Payments to private schools 

64. Payments to schools of other civil divisions 

05. Total for auxiliary agencies (53-64, inclusive) 



12 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

VI. Expenses of Fixed Charges. 

66. Pensions 

67. Rent 

68. Insurance 

69. Taxes 

70. Contributions, contingencies, etc 

71. Total fixed charges (66-70, inclusive) 

72. Total current expenses (Items 19, 30, 41,. 48, 52, 65, and 70) 

VII. Outlays (Capital Acquisition and Construction). 

73. Land 

74. New buildings 

75. Alteration of old buildings 

76. Equipment of new buildings and grounds, exclusive of replacements 

77. Total outlays (73-76, inclusive) 

2. THE SUPERINTENDENT SHOULD KEEP IN ORDERL Y AND S YS- 
TEMATIC MANNER STATISTICAL INFORMATION CONCERNING 
SIGNIFICANT MATTERS RELATING TO THE SCHOOLS. 

There are a number of things about the schools other than about 
the finances that the board, the superintendent, and the public 
need to know, if the schools are to be administered so that theve will 
be a constant increase secured in their efficiency. In a school 
system that is steadily improving in the quality of its work one will 
find, among many others, that the following things are happening: 

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFICIENT SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

1. From year to year the school system will enroll a larger per- 
centage of the children of school age and will carry them further 
along in the grades before they drop out. 

2. The number of over-age pupils and of pupils who are making 
slow progress through school will decrease. 

3. There will be fewer and fewer failures in promotion and fewer 
who drop out of school because they become discouraged and dis- 
heartened in their work. 

4. There will be much greater regularity in school attendance and 
fewer absences. 

5. There will be a decrease in the number of pupils per teacher 
until a reasonable limit has been reached. 

6. Teachers' qualifications will be advancing steadily, and the con- 
ditions under which they live and work will increasingly make for a 
more stabilized teaching force. 

7. When pupils do leave school it will be known why, in the 
light of which the work of the schools will be shaped to better meet 
their needs. 



STATISTICAL INFORMATION AS TO THE SCHOOLS. 13 

8. Pupils will be followed up after they leave school in order to 
determine wherein their training could have been improved. 

9. Information will be compiled systematically about what other 
school systems are doing in order that the system in question may 
profit by the experience of others elsewhere. 

These are some of the things which characterize the system that 
is on the alert to improve. Statistical information, and information 
of nonstatistical character about the system necessary to this end, 
are secured in large school systems by a group of experts who give then* 
whole time to compiling and interpreting such facts ; in small systems 
this is handled by the superintendent through a carefully devised 
system of reports which he requires principals and teachers to file 
at stated intervals and which are tabulated and made available by 
a clerk working under his direction. 

INFORMATION WHICH SHOULD BE IN THE SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE. 

The office of the superintendent of Glynn County is completely 
lacking in any information which will enable anyone to form any 
conclusions whatsoever on these matters. It is impossible to com- 
pare the system as it now stands with what it was 10 years ago or 
even 2 years ago from any records anywhere to be found. No one 
can tell, therefore, whether the system has been steadily improving 
in efficiency or steadily declining. A private business that knows 
no more about itself than the records of the Glynn County school 
system tell about the vital matters affecting the schools would soon 
be on the rocks. The board of education should lose no time in 
authorizing the superintendent to inaugurate a system of simple 
records covering the foregoing elementary matters. Such records 
could well begin with the following: 

1. The age-grade distribution of all pupils for each school and for 
the entire system, taken annually, from which can be determined 
facts about retardation and acceleration of pupils. 

2. A table compiled annually showing how many children, in each 
grade and school and for the entire system, have attended school 
during the year for 100 days, for 110 days, for 120 days, for 130 days, 
and so on up to the full number of days school has been in session 
during the year. 

3. A table showing the facts about promotions and failures in 
each grade and in each school of the system. 

4. A table showing the number of pupils who have dropped out 
of each grade of each school before the term or year has closed and 
the reason for quitting given by the teachers. 

5. A card catalogue of the graduates of the high school showing 
the important facts about the school history of each, where they 
go and what they do. Every graduate should be followed up as 



14 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

long as possible, and from time to time significant facts recorded 
on his card. 

6. A card catalogue of every teacher entering the system should 
be kept, showing training, experience, certification, and other facts 
of importance. 

7. Charts should be kept showing the number of seats in every 
schoolroom in the system and the number of children assigned to 
each room. These charts should be revised two or three times 
each term, based on reports of teachers and principals. 

8. The annual reports of the superintendents of many school 
systems should be secured, examined, and a card index compiled 
of references to those which the superintendent foresees may be of 
use at a later time in connection with some of his projects. The 
publications of the educational department of the State of Georgia 
and of the Federal Bureau of Education should likewise be filed 
and indexed for future reference. The leading educational journals 
should be at hand and either filed or their important articles clipped 
and preserved. In such manner the superintendent can quickly 
build up a body of useful material. 

SUCH RECORDS EASILY KEPT. 

Charts, tables, and records of the kind just enumerated are very 
easily kept, if the proper forms and filing devices be procured. In 
the publications referred to there is to be found a wealth of suggestion 
for each. In passing, it may be mentioned that the school depart- 
ment of Memphis, Tenn., has a particularly valuable system of 
report blanks which are filled out by teachers and principals and 
then filed with the superintendent. These cover many of the matters 
which every superintendent should have at all times in his office 
subject to call. One intelligent clerk in the superintendent's office 
can easily take care of all that Glynn County needs in this line in 
addition to having time for many other duties. 



3. APPOINT AN ATTENDANCE OFFICER ON FULL TIME AND 
REQUIRE HIM TO KEEP A CUMULATIVE SCHOOL CENSUS. 

Georgia has a compulsory attendance law which requires, under 
penalty, that all children between the ages of 8 and 14 shall attend 
school continuously for six months of each year, which period of at- 
tendance shall commence at the beginning of the first term of the 
school year. It provides also that each county and municipal board 
of education shall employ an attendance officer, this appointment to 
be made by the board under penalty of the loss of its share of State 
school funds. Except for the fact that the law should require attend- 



ATTENDANCE OFFICER AND SCHOOL CENSUS. 15 

ance for the full period during which school is in session, and except 
for the method it provides for the taking of a school census, this law 
is an excellent one. 

DUTIES OF THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER. 

There are at least three lines of activity to which an efficient at- 
tendance officer will be devoting his time and energies : 

1. In visiting employers of school children, in following up the 
arrival and departure of families, in persuading individuals who think 
they must drop out of school to remain, in helping worthy and needy 
students to find work before and after school and during vacations, 
and in investigating the home conditions of children who are pro- 
gressing badly in their work, or who may be suspected by the teachers 
of living in insanitary, impoverished, or immoral surroundings. 

2. In establishing a contact between the school and welfare agen- 
cies in the community, such as charity workers, judges who try cases 
of juvenile delinquency, social-service organizations, police officials, 
and the local board of health. 

3. In keeping a permanent record card of every child in the county 
of school age which should contain, besides other social data, the 
name, address, sex, age, race; whether attending public, private, or 
parochial school; the class in said school; the reason for not attending 
school, if not enrolled; if employed, where and how; together with a 
brief statement of his school history. Such cards should be made in 
duplicate, one copy to be retained by the officer in the superintendent's 
office and one filed with the principal of the school attended by the 
child. They can be grouped by families if thought desirable. 

VALUE OF A CUMULATIVE CENSUS RECORD. 

It is the business of the school to prevent illiteracy. With this in 
view, the law requires that all children between 8 and 14 shall be in 
school for a minimum period each year. Surely if the school is going 
to do the work that it is created expressly to do, it must know who 
these children are, where they live, and somewhat about the condi- 
tions under which they live; else, how can the school know whether 
it is doing its appointed work or not? A school census taken every 
five years, as required by Georgia law, is of little value unless it is sup- 
plemented by such a cumulative record. 

A permanent card record of each child, however, always in the 
making, checked up if desired at intervals of two years or so by a 
house-to-house canvass, is of inestimable value. Furthermore, a tab- 
ulation of such records each year by blocks or by districts, indicat- 
ing their location by putting pins of various colors in a map of the 
district, will give valuable information regarding the growth of the 
city or county, the direction the growth is taking, and the changing 



16 SCHOOLS OF BKUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

and shifting character of the population — information that is essen- 
tial if the board is to plan wisely far enough in advance to provide 
the necessary building accommodations by the time they are needed. 

A TACTFUL AND THOROUGHLY COMPETENT ATTENDANCE OFFICER 

NEEDED. 

The board should pay a salary large enough to secure a thoroughly 
competent person, preferably one who has had experience in social- 
service work and who commands the respect and confidence of the 
community; and a salary large enough, -it may be added, to induce 
the right person to remain in the work for a period of years, for 
obviously in work of this character favorable acquaintanceship 
in the county is an important asset, and acquaintanceship is a matter 
of time. Above all, however, the appointment should not go to 
some broken-down politician or ex-policeman or to some one whose 
only claim to consideration is that he can not make a living in any 
other way. It is being found that women make good attendance 
officers, but here again, as everywhere, success turns upon person- 
ality, sincerity, earnestness of purpose, and special training. 

The board of education of Glynn County can add greatly to the 
efficiency of the work of the schools by appointing such an officer and 
setting him about doing the things suggested in this report. The 
present arrangement in Glynn County, whereby the superintendent 
of schools is likewise the attendance officer, should be terminated as 
soon as possible, for clearly he has insufficient time to perform the 
duties herein outlined for an attendance officer and at the same time 
to do efficiently the work which properly falls to a county superin- 
tendent of schools. 

THE NEED IN GLYNN COUNTY. 

The need for an attendance officer who, in addition to other duties, 
shall compile the data already suggested is particularly apparent 
among the rural schools of Glynn County. It has been impossible 
to secure exact information concerning the enrollment and average 
daily attendance in the country schools, nor can it be determined with 
any degree of accuracy what proportion of those who ought to be in 
school are actually there. However, from observations made in each 
rural schoolroom, and from an examination of such teachers' registers 
for the school year 1918-19 as are available, it is clear that the at- 
tendance as compared with the school census and the number belong- 
ing in school is very low. It is also clear that those enrolled attend 
very irregularly. 

Only one of the registers obtained contained any information con- 
cerning the reasons why the children left school. In general, the 
teachers did no. know why their children quit, or else, when asked, 



ATTENDANCE OFFICER AND SCHOOL CENSUS. 



17 



they gave reasons which seemed quite inadequate. In the one school 
in which this information was given the register showed that of 33 
children enrolled 24 had dropped out at the end of three months. 
Of these, 10 left school to work on the farm, 9 because of sickness, and 
5 moved. None returned to school during the remainder of the year. 
This may not be typical of all schools, but it indicates a serious condi- 
tion, even if it occurs in only a few. 

THE ATTENDANCE RECORD OF 77 CHILDREN. 

The table which follows gives the attendance record for one year 
of 77 white children attending four country schools. 

Attendance record of '77 children. 





Days 


attended. 


Number 

of 
children. 


Pays attended. 


Number 

of 
children. 


Less than 10 








2 

6 

3 

3 

2 

11 

17 

17 


80 to 90 


2 


10 to 20 






90 to 100 


3 


20 to 30 






100 to 110 





30 to 40 






110 to 120 


8 


40 to 50 






120 to 130 


2 


50 to 60 






130 to 140 


1 


60 to 70 . 






Total 




70 to 80 






77 













These figures show that more than half of the children (57 per 
cent) attended school fewer than 70 days, or 3^ months in the year, 
and nearly four-fifths (77.2 per cent) attended not more than 80 
days or four months. The median time attended is 60 days, or 
three months. Comparing these country childern with city children, 
in well administered city schools, who attend regularly the full 9^ 
months term usually prescribed, the country child in Glynn County 
would have to spend 21 years in order to accomplish what the city 
child who is regular in attendance accomplishes in 7 years. It is 
inevitable that, unless accurate and adequate means of ascertaining 
when children are in school and why they are not there, if absent, 
are employed, many children will attend irregularly or not at all. 

All the data collected from the rural schools, including the age 
and grade tables and those showing the number enrolled in each 
grade, indicate that the attendance matter is serious. Many chil- 
dren leave school with only the meager education received in the 
first two or three grades. All of the problems which arise wholly 
or in part from irregular attendance and short school life are more 
difficult to solve in the country than in the city schools. For this 
reason preventive measures in rural schools are even more essential 
than in city schools. It is confidently believed that the appoint- 
ment of an attendance officer as herein suggested, holding him 
10178°— 20 2 



18 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

responsible, in cooperation with teachers and principals, for compil- 
ing accurate data relating to all these matters, will go far toward 
meeting this serious situation. 



4. THE HOLDING POWER OF THE SCHOOLS IS LOW AND SHOULD 

BE INCREASED. 

The general efficiency of the school system and the appreciation 
of the value of education and of the principles which underlie public 
school work are reflected in the success with which children of school 
age are kept in regular attendance continuously until the close of 
the school term and the school course. There is a tendency on the 
part of the school authorities and the community itself in both 
county and city to underestimate the importance of elementary 
education and of the necessity of extending school facilities to all 
the children. Back of the whole idea of public education is the prin- 
ciple that universal intelligence is essential to the preservation of 
ideals of democracy. It is because of the conception that the mini- 
mum essentials of education, at least, must be made common to 
all that compulsory attendance laws become necessary. The school 
board is morally and legally intrusted with the responsibility of 
furnishing elementary education and of enforcing the laws which 
insure that all children shall receive at least the minimum amount 
contemplated by the State. The elementary school is the most 
important part of the school system because it provides all the 
education that most of the children receive, and because it lays the 
foundation for high school and college work. It is essential, then, 
at whatever sacrifice, that the board shall take whatever steps are 
necessary in order that all of the children shall complete at least the 
six elementary grades. 

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW SHOULD BE ENFORCED. 

The study of the whole problem of school attendance shows a good 
deal of laxity on the part of school officials and of general indiffer- 
ence on the part of the citizens in Brunswick and Glynn County. 
There is no attendance officer for either, unless we consider as such 
the ex officio function performed by the county superintendent. 
These efforts scarcely extend outside the City of Brunswick. Even 
in the city they are not definitely connected with the children of 
school age who should be in school, but are confined largely to the 
children already enrolled. The census enumeration apparently 
plays very little part in the enforcement of the compulsory law. 
Hence, it concerns at best only regularity of attendance rather than 
universality. It is the business of the school system, once estab- 



HOLDING POWER OF THE SCHOOLS. 19 

lished, to get and keep in school all those of school age who have 
not completed the courses furnished or who have not passed bejond 
the compulsory age limit. 

In order to ascertain the success with which the system brings 
children into school, a comparison was made between the census 
enumeration and the enrollment. The census for the City of Bruns- 
wick shows that there are, between the ages of 6 and 18 years, 1,791 
white and 1,723 colored children. The school membership at the 
close of the month of February was 907 white and 560 colored, or 
about 41 per cent of the total census enumeration. 

These data indicate that the number of children of school age not 
in school is very large. The condition is especially serious because in 
Georgia the census age and the actual school age are practically the 
same. The fact that a large number of the census children are not 
enrolled in school leads one to expect an increased rate of illiteracy 
among those of school age for which there is no reasonable excuse, 
and for which the school system is responsible. 

GREATER REGULARITY OF ATTENDANCE. 

It is evident that enrollment is only part of the difficulty. When 
children are enrolled, they must attend school regularly, if they are 
to receive the advantages of an education, and they must remain in 
school throughout the full school year. To secure information of 
the kind referred to it is necessary to go back to the school year 
1918-19. A complete record of attendance and enrollment for the 
Glynn grammar school for the year 1918-19 shows that the enrollment 
began at 611 and increased throughout the year to a maximum of 774. 
At the close of the school year there were 530 still belonging, a loss of 
244. The average daily attendance at the close of the year was 448, 
a loss over that at the beginning of the year of 286. The average 
daily attendance during the year varied from 488 to 590 and is at its 
best during the first four months. Because complete and cumula- 
tive data are not kept in Brunswick, it is not possible to know how 
many of those lost during the school year were lost through illness or 
because they moved away. The loss is a large one and is probably 
not accounted for by necessity. 

The above data are too general to show definitely just how much 
schooling the average child obtains or to indicate in any sense the 
regularity with which such a child attends school. In order to ascer- 
tain this more definitely, complete attendance records of 631 children 
for the school year were examined. The results are shown in the 
following table: 



20 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

Actual number of days attended by 681 children in elementary grades of Brunswick. 



Days attending. 


Number 

of 
children. 


Sums of 

children 

from the 

begin- 

ing. 


Days attending. 


Number 

of 
children. 


Sums of 

children 

from the 

begin- 

ing. 


5- 10 


4 
14 

9 
13 

7 

4 
11 
13 
22 
19 

6 
10 
10 


4 

18 

27 

40 

47 

51 

62 

75 

97 

116 

122 

132 

142 


115-120 


17 
27 
35 

48 
39 
57 
95 
105 
66 


159 


10- ?0 


120-125 


186 


20- 30 


125-130 


221 


30- 40 


130-135 


26J 


40- 50 


135-140 


308 


50- 60 


140-145 


365 


60- 70 


145-150 


460 


70- 80 


150-155 


• 565 


80- 90 


15 r i-160 


631 


90-100 


Total 




100-105 


631 




105-110 






110-115 









Only actual enrollment was considered in this summary. All chil- 
dren who had moved away or who had been dropped because of illness 
or other good reasons were omitted as " excused/' The data repre- 
sent, then, the attendance record of the children who were or should 
be actual members of the school. The record shows that, of the total 
number considered, only 66 remained in school throughout the com- 
plete term. The median time attended was seven months. A con- 
siderable number (75) remained in school fewer than 80 days, or 4 
months. The school was closed for one month in December because 
of influenza. Aside from this, attendance seems very slightly in- 
fluenced by that or any other epidemic, as the percentage of attend- 
ance based on membership is about the same throughout the term, 
and both diminished gradually and quite uniformly from the begin- 
ning to the end of the school year. The table shows that, while many 
children attend with reasonable regularity, a significant number are 
in school only a fraction of the term. It should be remembered in 
considering attendance that irregularity is not alone disastrous to 
the child directly affected because it results in his obtaining only a 
portion of the education which he should have, but it has a serious 
effect on the children who attend regularly. Those frequently 
absent demand special attention from the teacher, who must make 
some effort to preserve uniform progress. Children absent long 
enough to get behind in their grade must, to a considerable extent, 
retard the progress of the class as a whole. 

The situation in the colored schools is similar but much worse. 
There were enrolled in the colored school, for the week of February 
20, 560 children, or 32 per cent of the census list. The average daily 
attendance for the same week is 419, or about 24 per cent of the total 
children of school age. 



HOLDING POWER OF THE SCHOOLS. 



21 



HOLDING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL. 

Some idea of the success with which the system holds children in 
school until they have completed the course may be obtained from the 
table which follows. This shows how many children are in attendance 
in each of the grades for every 100 enrolled in the first grade. Some 
falling off is, of course, normally to be expected. Comparison with 
similar data from other cities may be made from the data given in 
the table. It is noticeable that the falling off is heavy and also that 
it differs widely between the two schools in the city and between the 
city and country. In a well-organized system, reasonable uniformity 
of results should be expected. Certainly the wide difference ob- 
served in the two schools in Brunswick is an unfavorable indication. 
For example, for every 100 enrolled in the first grade, there are in 
the sixth grade in the Glynn School 70, in the Purvis School, 50. 
For the two schools, taken as a whole, 62. A similar difference is 
found by comparison between the enrollment of colored children in 
the city and country. 

Number of children in each grade, based on 100 in the first grade (1918-19). 



Schools. 



In isley, colored 

Colored, county 

(llynn 

Purvis 

Total white, Brunswick. 

White, county 

Average of 30 cities 2 

Columbia, S. C 

Expectancy survival 3 . . . 



G riides. 



100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 



72 
29 
98 
94 
96 
55 
88 
100 
100 



G7 
40 
90 
59 
78 
45 
77 
78 
100 



45 

27 
83 
53 

72 
60 

7.3 
71 

90 



31 
22 

s0 
78 
70 
67 
70 
50 
81 



17 

8 
70 I. 

50 . 

62 

45! 

63 

54 

68 i 



C 1 ) 



47 
30 
52 

41 
51 



10 



11 



34 

7 



27 



21 
3 



12 

2 



17 



12 



1 Less than 1. l Average cf 30 cities of U. S. with a population of 10,000 or under. ' Thorndike. 

The majority of cities show a rapid falling off of enrollment at the 
end of the compulsory attendance period; that is, at about 14 years 
of age, or about at the close of the sixth grade. However, the cause 
of children leaving school in Brunswick and Glynn County is evi- 
dently not due to the fact that the compulsory period has ended, 
because the law is not enforced. The rapid decline from the first 
to the second grade in the county and the gradual decline throughout 
the grades in the city indicate a prevalent laxity concerning attend- 
ance; indifferent methods of instruction; lack of interest in the 
courses offered, and general ineffectiveness in the system. The very 
marked falling off of children as they pass through the grades in the 
rural schools indicates that something is radically wrong. It seems 
probable that only those children with exceptional opportunity or 
with special ability finish the upper grades or the high school. The 
great majority of children in the country are apparently satisfied 
with the very limited education offered in the first few grades. 



22 SCHOOLS OF BKUNSW1CK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

PROGRESS THROUGH THE GRADES. 

The rate of progress of children through the grades of the ele- 
mentary school is an important factor in determining the efficiency 
of a school system and is closely related to the matter of attendance. 
In the future, complete records showing the age at entrance; pro- 
motion or non-promotion, with reasons for the latter, should be kept 
for each child as he progresses through the elementary grades. The 
following tables show the age-grade distribution for two white ele- 
mentary schools in Brunswick and for the entire Brunswick system. 
For comparison a table showing similar facts for the Columbia (S. C.) 
system is also given. 

Age-grade distribution of white children in the two elementary schools of Brunswick 

(1918-19). 





Under age. 


Normal age. 


Over 


age. 


Grades. 


Glynn. 


Purvis. 


Glynn. 


Purvis. 


Glynn. 


Purvis. 




No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


1 


3 


4 
2 
1 

8 


3 

4 
2 
1 
10 




1 

2 
1 




2 

3 
3 


97 
80 
68 
49 
58 
54 


88 
73 
68 
53 
66 
70 


41 
33 
18 
24 

27 
22 


60 
50 
42 
64 
50 
64 


11 
28 
28 
41 
29 
15 


9 
27 
28 
45 
33 
20 


28 
32 
23 
13 
25 
12 


40 


2 


50 


3 


56 


4 


36 


5 


47 


6 


33 







Age-grade distribution for the entire Brunswick system (1918-19). 





Under age. 


Normal age. 


Over 


age. 


Grades. 


White. 


Colored. 


White. 


Colored. 


White. 


Colored. 




No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. . 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Per ct. 


1 


3 

5 
2 
3 
9 


1 

3 
1 
2 
8 





3 
1 





4 
1 


138 
113 

86 
73 

85 
76 


76 
65 
60 
56 
59 
67 


77 
22 
24 
18 
19 
12 


47 
10 
27 
24 
36 
40 


39 
60 
51 
54 
53 
27 


23 
35 

37 
43 
39 
25 


88 
97 
87 
54 
32 
18 


53 


2 


90 


3 


73 


4 


72 




63 


6 


60 











Age-grade distribution of Columbia (S. C.) white and negro children compared (1917). 





Under age. 


Normal age. 


Ovei 


•age. 


Grades. 


White. 


Negro. 


White. 


Negro. 


White. 


Negro. 




No. 


Per ct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Perct. 


No. 


Per ct. 


1 


55 
75 
36 
36 
21 
9 
27 


9.5 
14.5 
7.3 
7.8 
6.1 
3.2 
12.2 


121 
9 
17 
21 
6 
5 
1 


17.9 
3.0 
6.0 

10.3 
3.5 
4.5 
1.2 


422 
323 
331 
272 
210 
183 
141 


73.1 

62.5 
66.9 
59.2 
60.9 
66.3 
63.5 


280 

100 

98 

52 

45 
44 
29 


41.4 
33.3 
34.0 
25.5 
26.3 
40.0 
34.9 


100 
119 
128 
152 
114 
84 
54 


17.4 
23.0 

25.8 
33.0 
33.0 
30.5 
24.3 


275 
191 
173 
131 
120 
61 
53 


40.7 


2 


63.6 


3 


60.0 


4 


64.2 




70.2 


6 


55.5 


7 


63.9 











HOLDING POWER OF THE SCHOOLS. 23 

OBSERVATIONS ON PRECEDING TABLES. 

It is usually assumed that children enter the grades at the age of 
6 and if they make normal progress complete one grade a year. 
The normal age for children in the first grade is 6 years; in the 
second, 7; in the third, 8; and so on. Children who are younger 
than the normal age are considered under-age, those who are above 
the normal age are classed as over-age. However, a two-year rather 
than a one-year span was used in the foregoing tables, so that normal 
age as here defined extends over a two-year period in each grade. 
Children who are 6 or 7 years old in the first grade are classed as 
" normal;" those who are 7 or 8 years old are "normal" for the 
second grade, and so on. The allowance is therefore liberal. The 
data given can not be interpreted literally. It is possible that a 
child old for his grade is really making normal or even rapid progress, 
sin^e illness or late entrance may be accountable for over-ageness, 
or even lack of attendance. In the absence of complete records, it 
is impossible to make conclusive deductions. A few apparent con- 
clusions seem justified. 

1. The system does not get uniform results; the different schools 
are entirely unlike. The percentage of over-age children is higher 
in the Purvis than in the Glynn school. It is far greater in the 
country than in the city. The reasons for this should be studied 
carefully in order that proper and intelligent steps to remedy it may 
be taken. Complete records kept through a period of years are 
necessary for such a study. 

2. While the percentage of children of normal age is not exces- 
sively low, there are surprisingly few children in the Brunswick 
schools young for their grades. The data giv r en for comparison show 
this very plainly. This condition is probably due somewhat to 
irregular attendance; but other causes, class organization particu- 
larly, will need to receive attention and study in order that this con- 
dition may be relieved. 

3. It is apparent that there are altogether too many overage 
children in the lower grades, and that there are a large number of 
children 2 years and more overage. This condition indicates the 
need of special classes and better grading. 

All of which points the fact which has been brought out in other 
parts of this report that a system of recording these and other sig- 
nificant facts about the schools of Glynn County should be devised 
in order that an intelligent study of the progress of the system in 
efficiency may from time to time be made. 



24 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

5. AMEND THE SPECIAL ACT UNDER WHICH THE SCHOOLS ARE 
CONTROLLED TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTIVE BOARD AND TO 
MAKE THE COUNTY A SINGLE TAXATION UNIT FOR SCHOOL 
PURPOSES. 

Glynn County is one of four counties in the State of Georgia in 
which the public school system is governed by preconstitutional 
legislation. The other three are Richmond County, Chatham County, 
and Bibb County. The original act regulating public instruction 
in the County of Glynn was passed in 1873 and confirmed by the con- 
stitutional convention of 1877. The act, modified by later enact- 
ments, was consolidated and amended by the act of the general 
assembly of 1914, which sets forth the provisions under which the 
schools are now operating. 

EXCELLENT FEATURES OF THE ACT. 

This act as it now stands is so admirable that it might well serve 
in a number of important respects as a model for the State. It has 
taken advanced ground, for example, in providing for the appoint- 
ment by the board of a county superintendent rather than making 
this a political office, as does the school code of the State, through 
requiring that he be elected by the people. This wise provision 
enables the board to go anywhere for a superintendent and should 
operate in the direction of getting persons specially trained for the 
work. 

Moreover, the act wisely distinguishes between the legislative 
and judicial functions properly belonging to a board of education 
and the executive functions which should properly be delegated to 
appointees. To quote the act on this point: 

Be it further enacted that it is the intention of this act to invest completely in the 
board of education the control and management of all the public schools of Glynn 
County. That the execution of their orders, rules, and regulations be performed by 
their official appointees and employees other than themselves * * *. 

In matters, too, of taxation for school maintenance this act has 
taken advanced ground for it provides that the county board of 
education shall fix the rate, thereby investing that body which 
knows most about the schools and their needs with the authority 
it requires to carry its plans for improvement into effect. 

THE COUNTY SHOULD COMPRISE A SINGLE UNIT FOR SCHOOL TAX- 
ATION AND EXPENDITURE. 

In an important particular, however, the act of 1914, under which 
Glynn County schools are operating, in the judgment of the Federal 
commission, should be amended, namely, in respect to its method 
of raising and expending taxes for school purposes. 



AX ELECTIVE BOAED AND THE COUNTY UNIT. 25 

As matters now stand, Glynn County has two taxation districts 
for school purposes, the City of Brunswick and that portion of the 
county outside the city limits of Brunswick. While the county 
hoard has jurisdiction over both districts, fixing within the statu- 
tory limits of 8 mills, in the one district, and 5 mills in the other, the 
tax rate for the schools, nevertheless, the act of 1914 requires that 
the taxes derived from each district shall be expended in the dis- 
trict from which they are collected. Although the act in limiting 
the taxation districts to two is in advance of the general school code 
of Georgia, which permits the forming of a number of local taxa- 
tion districts within a count}', yet the commission is convinced that 
Glynn County, in this matter, should go a step further and abolish 
all distinction between the City of Brunswick and the rural portion 
of the county in respect both to taxation and to expenditures for 
education. 

A child living hi the remote and isolated parts of Glynn County 
ought to have equal chance with the child living in the City of 
Brunswick for getting at least the minimum essentials of an educa- 
tion. Upon the rural resident, quite as much as upon the resident 
of the city, rests responsibility for shaping the policies of State and 
of Nation. It is quite as important that the school help the country 
child to determine where his tastes and aptitudes lay and to give him 
the training necessary for the development of these to the point 
where he becomes a worthy self-supporting member of society, 
making his contribution to its needs, as it is for the school to prepare 
city children for finding their place and work in the world. Ob- 
viously, a child living in Brobston, or Everett, or Zuta, sparsely 
settled places, as they are, with poor land values, is not going to 
have the educational advantages of a child living in Brunswick 
unless conditions are equalized in some way. Much can of course 
be done to improve opportunities through consolidating schools, 
transporting pupils, and securing better school organization, matters 
discussed in other parts of this report, but, in the end, all such matters 
rest back upon the financial support which can be secured. 

INTERESTS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF ADJACENT COUNTRY IDENTICAL. 

The interests of the City of Brunswick and of the country lying 
back of her are not different; they are identical. Never will Bruns- 
wick become the city which her geographical situation, her climate, 
and her remarkable natural harbor warrant until the country stretch- 
ing all about her has been developed and settled. Thousands of 
acres of overflow land of inexhaustible fertility lie all about which 
if reclaimed and drained would be splendidly adapted to truck 
raising and intensive farming, providing an area capable of support- 
ing an immense population. Furthermore, her proximity to the great 



26 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

markets of the country by train and by vessel, coupled with the fore- 
going features, gives to Brunswick unusual agricultural possibilities. 
It is, then, of direct concern to Brunswick that the county of Glynn 
shall be given all the assistance possible along every line of progress. 
Moreover, in no activity, it should be added, is this more important 
than in the effort to provide good schools for the children of those 
who establish their homes in the country. 

In the process of equalizing the educational opportunity for the 
country and city child the revision should be upward for both. 
Abolishing lines between the City of Brunswick and the county out- 
side, permitting a flat school tax to be placed on the county as a 
whole, sufficient to make generous provision for all the children of 
the county, and permitting the board of education to distribute the 
income among the schools so that equal opportunity shall be given 
all, are surely of such importance that no further delay in securing the 
necessary authority through amending the 1914 act should be 
permitted. 

6. THE SYSTEM NEEDS A STRONGER TEACHING STAFF AND 
MORE EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM WORK. 

IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK. 

The teachers in the City of Brunswick give, on the whole, an im- 
pression of dignity, pleasing personality, interest in their work and 
possibility for professional achievement. One is not impressed with 
any evidence of unity of purpose, of loyalty to the school or to the 
system, or of strong professional spirit in the teaching corps. Each 
teacher is concerned with her grade or room. With two exceptions, 
all of the elementary teachers had some experience before they were 
engaged in Brunswick and about half of them have been in the 
system from two to seven years. Ten are teaching for the first 
time in the system this year. As a whole they are reasonably well 
prepared. At least half have academic and professional training 
equivalent to graduation from a. standard normal school. Two have 
no professional -training beyond that obtained at one or two summer 
normal courses, following graduation from high school; one has com- 
pleted a college course. The corps as a whole while not strong is 
reasonably well trained but shows the need of forceful leadership and 
of intelligent direction. 

The discipline throughout the system, with a few exceptions, is 
unfortunate. The rooms are not well kept, papers are scattered 
about the floor, and dust covers storage boxes and fills the corners. 
Walls and ceilings which are unsightly in color and even unclean 
add to the gloom of buildings badly lighted. The stoves used to 
heat the rooms are rusty and unsightly. Storage closets and book- 



BETTER TEACHERS AND CLASSROOM WORK. 27 

cases are disorderly and dusty and there is a general lack of order and 
cleanliness in respect to the appearance of the rooms. Some notable 
exceptions in these matters, in both white and colored schools, 
should be noted, however. 

In many rooms the children were noisy and restless and in instances, 
even in the upper grades, spoke without permission, waved their 
hands, snapped their fingers, and acted in quite an undisciplined and 
disorderly manner. In a few cases noted, children did not respond 
to correction either with good spirit or with quickness and definite- 
ness. In many rooms there seemed to be no system concerning 
routine matters, such as passing papers, preparing for writing lessons, 
and the like. This results in much waste of time. Programs are 
posted in the rooms but not alwa}^s followed. 

Although the majority of the teachers have some professional 
training, they apparently ignore it and fall back into bad habits of 
teaching. The work in the classrooms is formal and indifferent in 
a number of cases. A few teachers show initiative and originality 
and freedom from textbook routine, but the majority are following 
a memorization process. There is no uniformity of procedure or 
evidence of team work or organization. 

The teachers depend too much on home work, even in the lower 
grades. In several instances observed, when the children failed in 
their lessons, the teacher made no effort to help but merely suggested 
that they take home their books and study the lesson again. Too 
much home study is generally the recourse of inexperienced and 
untrained or unsupervised teachers. No directions or suggestions 
as to how to study were noted in any room. Assignments when heard 
were by pages or paragraphs. In many rooms the teacher called 
constantly on a few only, allowing them to do the work, while the 
others idled with little interest n the recitation. A good deal of 
reading and reciting in concert was heard in the lower grades. Enun- 
ciation and pronunciation and good expression were so bad in many 
rooms that it was not easy for an observer to understand what the 
children were reading. 

The course of study as pursued seems to be in the minds of individ- 
ual teachers and not in any tangible form. Not all teachers were 
following the same course. The organization of subject matter is 
chiefly that of the textbook used or is based on traditional practice 
as understood by the teacher. Several teachers did not know 
definitely what course was being followed. The frequency with 
which the visitor encounters classes in writing leads one to believe 
that a great deal of time is spent upon it, though the results obtained 
do not justify this. 

Music, art, industrial and manual work, cooking, household arts, 
playground activities, and physical education are among the subjects 



28 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

which seem almost entirely ignored. Such singing as was heard 
indicates that music is not taught in any systematic or organized 
way. It is apparently used to fill in time not otherwise planned for. 
The selections used are entirely unfitted to train children's ability to 
appreciate good music. There is no attention given to pitch, tone, 
or expression. 

There is a marked dearth of illustrative material for teaching such 
subjects as history, geography, and reading. A few supplementary 
readers are supplied for the lower grades and the Carpenter Geograph- 
ical Readers in the upper grades. Training in the use of a library 
and the ability to use source material or gather and organize informa- 
tion apparently receives no attention. As a whole the teaching may 
be said to be chiefly on the lower plane and given over to the mem- 
orizing of information found in the textbook rather than in training 
tne children in the exercise of judgment and initiative. 

IN THE BRUNSWICK HIGH SCHOOL. 

The quality of the teaching work in the Brunswick High School is 
relatively on a higher level than in the grades. Indeed, an exam- 
ination of the classroom practice in the high school discloses the 
fact that it compares very favorably with that of many high schools 
in other parts of the country which are larger and better equipped. 
The personality of the teachers is good. Their training for the most 
part has been quite all that can be expected of teachers in small 
schools, and. in some instances it is quite superior to that ordinarily 
found among high-school teachers. The Brunswick High School 
faculty impressed the commission as being made up of men and 
women of superior personality. 

The teaching load, however, is too heavy. Several teachers are 
teaching seven periods a day. This is too much for good work. 
The board should provide more teachers, thereby lightening the bur- 
den. This will express itself at once in greater efficiency. The work of 
the school also needs to be better coordinated than it now appears to 
be. As in the elementary schools each teacher seems to be working 
pretty largely along lines of her own planning. This, of course, 
within reasonable limits is commendable, but there is need in the 
Brunswick high school for more teamwork than is now apparent. This 
calls for leadership either by the superintendent or by the high-school 
principal or both. In the event the principal is held responsible for 
policies in the high school he should be granted sufficient time free 
from teaching to enable him to visit the teachers in their work and 
to advise with them individually and collectively as to details. 



BETTER TEACHERS AND CLASSROOM WORK. 29 

TEACHING IN THE RURAL SCHOOLS. 

While the classroom work in the elementary grades of the city is 
not satisfactory, that in the country schools is worse. The staff of 
teachers is less permanent, not so well trained, and less promising in 
respect to possibilities. Better salaries and living conditions in 
the city result in attracting teachers of good personality, ability, and 
training. In fact, the selection of teachers for rural schools seems 
based on the applicant's ability to accept the small salary offered 
and to find a living place under disadvantageous circumstances. 
The salaries are low and run from month to month only. The term, 
while uncertain in length, is short at best. The board does not 
contract with teachers for a specified time, but it is understood that 
school is to continue as long as the attendance justifies it. Few 
teachers with ability and energy will accept such terms even if sal- 
aries were higher and living places more acceptable. Negligence 
concerning the education of children on the part of school boards 
and patrons is reflected in the children and their attitude toward 
school. The vicious circle of irresponsibility toward education 
will probably continue until conditions are improved. 

All but two of the teachers in the country are teaching for the 
first time in their present positions. Only two have the minimum 
training required of applicants in the city and a few have no certifi- 
cates. 

Of the teaching there is little to say. It is the textbook memo- 
rization process poorly done. Classes are too many and too small — 
some of one pupil only. Sometimes there are several pupils doing 
the work of one grade a few pages apart in the reader or arithmetic 
or geography. Little attempt at careful grading has been made. 
Generally there are no schedules regularly followed. Teachers had 
no programs, or kept them at home or had not yet made one, though 
the visits were made in December. Many teachers had not thought 
about and did not know the number of recitations heard daily. After 
stopping to count them the observer found that the number varied 
from 16 to 38. No thought had been given to the distribution of 
the teacher's time among, classes or subjects. The organization of 
material given in the textbook takes the place of a course of study. 
Either because of lack of ability or indifference, no efforts have been 
made for better organization of one-teacher schools through combi- 
nation or alternation of classes. When teachers have no regular 
programs but merely hear recitations as they happen to remember 
them, using for this purpose from 5 to 30 minutes, they sometimes 
give entirely to much time to certain classes or subjects and not 
enough to others. The result is chaotic. Only by accident can 
children get an education worth having. 



30 SCHOOLS OE BKUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

The teachers of the rural schools ought to be more carefully 
selected. Only those of superior ability and training can successfully 
meet the difficult problems presented in the small rural school. 
They should be engaged for a definite period of nine months and the 
board should see that children attend during this time. The salaries 
of rural teachers should be based on the wage scale adopted, with a 
possible bonus in order to secure the best teachers where they are 
most needed. This plan is successfully followed elsewhere, for 
example, in Baltimore County, Md. In addition, provision must be 
made for living places. Cottages for the teachers should be erected 
at the consolidated schools. When this arrangement is not possible, 
other provisions should be made by the board, even if it is necessary 
to build a room or erect a portable cottage near enough to some con- 
venient farmhouse for safety and protection where the teacher can 
be boarded or can board herself. 

TEACHING IN COLORED RURAL SCHOOLS. 

The teachers in the colored rural schools of the county, with a 
very few exceptions, have not themselves had the advantage of any 
education in advance of the grades they are trying to teach. Many 
of them have no certificates. Even the missionary spirit, so often 
found among Negro teachers in other communities, partially com- 
pensating for lack of education, is not in evidence here. All that 
can be said is that a few are making the best of very unfavorable 
circumstances. Most of the rooms are clean. There is, however, 
absolute lack of equipment. No usable blackboards, globes, maps, 
or supplementary books were seen and even desks are not supplied 
in many cases. The teachers are paid but $30 a month for an in- 
definite term, not more than five or six months. One can not but 
feel that this pitiable makeshift merely serves as an excuse that 
schooling is provided. Unless teachers with better training and 
education and some of the qualities of leadership are secured for the 
colored schools, the children would be about as well off if engaged 
in some useful work at their homes. Mere literacy may be obtained 
in such schools as are now furnished, but nothing more can be ex- 
pected, and unless more attention is given to enrolling the children 
of school age for a reasonable term even this will not be accomplished. 

ADEQUATE SUPERVISION SHOULD BE PROVIDED FOR CITY AND 

COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 

Many of the improvements suggested in teaching methods and 
organization of a teaching corps can be secured only by an adequate 
supervisory force. At present upon the superintendent is placed 
the sole responsibility for all administrative and supervisory duties — 
too much for one individual. Moreover, certain special lines of 



BETTER TEACHERS AND CLASSROOM WORK. 31 

work require specialized training. Teachers can be properly trained 
and directed only by persons definitely equipped for this work. So 
far, the schools of the city and country have ignored the newer sub- 
jects of the curriculum in the elementary schools. These can be 
taught by the regular teachers, if they are properly selected and 
supervised. Primary work, reading, and phonics are among the sub- 
jects poorly taught. It must be remembered that the foundation 
for future education is laid in the lower grades where the tool sub- 
jects are given and habits of work and study are formed. These 
grades are of the utmost importance. If poor teaching must be 
endured, it would better be in the upper grades where the children 
are less dependent on the guidance of the teacher. 

The commission has carefully considered the supervisory needs 
of the city and county and the following represents the minimum 
force necessary to achieve results: First, a primary supervisor to 
have charge of the work of the first four grades. This supervisor 
should be well trained and experienced and able to direct all of the 
work of these grades, including play activities, physical education, 
music, art, and handwork, In order that the benefits of supervi- 
sion may be extended to the rural schools, the board should engage 
a chauffeur so that all supervisors may visit the country schools 
often enough to direct the work in them. 

Second, a supervisor of home economics should be employed. 
With the assistance of such a supervisor one teacher employed in 
Brunswick would be able to take care of the work in the fifth and 
sixth grades in addition to that now given in the upper grades. This 
would leave the supervisor free to spend a good deal of time in the 
country until the work is established and a course adjusted to rural 
needs worked out. The committee has in mind that this course 
should make provision for boys as well as for girls and should be a 
study of foods, home keeping and home education; the preparation 
of the school lunch ; and the direction of home gardening and poultry 
raising. Plain sewing could be given in alternate years, in substi- 
tution for one of the foregoing subjects. 

If the board of education feels that the expense of such a super- 
visor is too great at the present time, the commission suggests as a 
temporary arrangement that home economics in the rural schools be 
taught by the regular teachers in cooperation with the county home 
demonstration agent. Under such a plan the work could be closely 
correlated with the club work in poultry raising and with other home 
projects supervised by the demonstration agent. If this plan were 
adopted for the county schools, classes and courses in Brunswick 
should be reorganized and extended so as to offer the home keeping 
subjects to the girls of the fifth and sixth grades. No additional 
teacher is necessary in order to do this. 



32 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

Third, a grade supervisor should be engaged whose duties in the 
upper grades would correspond to those suggested for the primary 
supervisor. For the present these may be performed by the county 
superintendent with the assistance of three of the regular teachers 
from the elementary or high school grades preferably those working 
with the departmental plan, in order that the time schedule may 
be properly arranged. When the teaching staff is engaged the 
board should select one teacher, who, in addition to the regular sub- 
ject taught, which may, for example, be science in the high school, 
should have charge of athletics in the high school and direct physical 
education above the fourth grade. Another teacher should be se- 
lected who has specialized in the fine and industrial arts and another 
who is prepared to direct music. This work can be done in addition 
to teaching the regular subjects under the departmental plan. All 
good teacher-training institutions prepare such teachers, and the 
board can secure them without great additional expense. This is 
suggested as one method of providing supervisory instruction in 
the newer subjects without too great an expenditure of funds. When 
the people appreciate the value of instruction of this kind they will 
willingly pay for special supervisors. 

It is expected of course that all this supervision will extend to 
the rural schools as well as to the schools of Brunswick. It will be 
necessary to pay salaries high enough to secure for the positions 
persons with ability to inspire and organize a teaching force as 
well as to direct the work. Supervision, especially when it extends 
over a wide extent of territory, can not be done wholly through 
visits. The supervisor must depend on teachers' meetings, circular 
letters and opportunity for observation. Work of this nature means 
the ability to lead teachers as well as to teach children. It is ex- 
pected also that colored schools should have the benefit of such super- 
vision as well as the white schools. 

PROVISION SHOULD BE MADE FOR IMPROVING TEACHERS WHILE IN 

THE SERVICE. 

The methods pursued in the classroom, the attitude of the teachers, 
and the general tone of the system show the need of a plan for con- 
tinued professional training for teachers while in service. This does 
not mean any abatement or remission of standard requirements 
covering the education and the training of the teachers employed. 
It merely means keeping the staff up to the highest pitch of efficiency 
through continued professional growth. Teachers should keep 
informed on advanced ideas in education, they should be abreast 
of progress in methods and ideals and be familiar with the literature 
of the profession to be found in the best books and magazines. This 
work should be directed in a systematic way by the superintendent 



A NEW COURSE OF STUDY. 33 

and supervisors. In this way a good corps of teachers is constantly 

made better and a corps of mediocre ability raised to a higher degree 

of efficiency. 

PROVISION FOR SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS. 

In a system the size of Glynn County definite provision must be 
made for substitutes when regular teachers are ill or absent for 
other unavoidable reasons. The present practice of providing for 
vacancies by putting the room in charge of high school girls or other 
inexperienced persons is an injustice to the children. Good work 
can not be expected. Regular substitute teachers of maturity and 
experience are needed. The work is more difficult in discipline and 
methods of teaching than that which falls to the regular teacher. 
Moreover, all teachers occasionally need visiting da}^s, in order to 
become familiar with the best things being done by other teachers 
in the system, or other systems not too far removed. In addition 
to the regular staff, then, the board should engage at least one 
teacher who should substitute when necessary, take charge of rooms 
on appointed dates while regular teachers visit and observe the work 
of others, and give demonstration lessons in advanced ideas and 
methods for the benefit of the teachers on the regular staff. 

7. A NEW COURSE OF STUD Y SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE 

SCHOOLS. 

Frequent reference has been made in the discussion of other topics 
to deficiences in the courses of study followed in Glynn County and 
Brunswick. There is, at present, no authorized course of study for 
all grades and schools. The commission found much diversity of 
procedure as to methods and content. Exact uniformity is not 
desirable, but certain minimum results should be expected of all 
grades. There is, for example, no justification for the fact that the 
commission found pupils in one room getting better results in spelling, 
reading, and general training than those of another room in the same 
grade. Such conditions indicate that children of the system are 
not being provided with equal opportunities in school. It is not 
essential or desirable that children in any one grade in several schools 
should be reading the same lesson or considering the same topics in 
geography or history at a given time. It is desirable that the required 
minimum be accomplished in the same grade in all rooms and in all 
schools. The course of study should be a guide to the teacher in 
respect to the amount of work to be accomplished in a given time. 
It should suggest good methods of teaching, set standards of accom- 
plishment, and promote enough uniformity to assure minimum 
results in all grades and classrooms. 
10178°— 20 3 



C4 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

CONTENT OF THE COURSE OF STUDY. 

The commission is of the opinion that the schools should be organ- 
ized on the 6-3-3 plan and the course of study formulated with this 
in view. The necessity of broadening the scope of school work by 
adding new subjects has been pointed out elsewhere in this report 
and the means of making provision for their introduction and super- 
vision suggested. The course of study should be worked out by the 
supervisory and teaching corps under the general direction of the 
superintendent. Tentative outlines, made by committees of teachers 
in conference, should be tried out in the classroom and made as perfect 
as possible before adoption. In this way a course definitely adapted 
to the needs of the county and city system would be secured. The 
Stat course of study furnishes a good basis for work and may be 
used as a point of departure. The commission would suggest that as 
a first step the State course be adopted and that it be later modified 
in the light of the experience gained in its use. Many excellent 
suggestions are found in it. It should not be used without modifica- 
tion and free supplementation in order to give more detailed sug- 
gestions and to make adaptations to local conditions. The new 
course should provide for music, the fine and industrial arts, agri- 
culture and nature study, home economics, community civics, 
hygiene, and recreation. It should also provide for correlating the 
subjects of the curriculum by organizing around large topics or 
projects or suggesting means for doing this. It is better to present 
the work of the grade for a stated period or time or until a certain 
topic or project is completed than to present separate outlines for 
each subject. 

OBSERVATIONS ON ORGANIZATION. 

Observation of the children and the examination of the papers 
handed in in Brunswick and experience with other schools convince 
the commission that there are some children in the regular classes 
who are not mentally capable of doing the work of the grade to which 
they are assigned. No definite study of the number of these was 
made. Probably one ungraded room is needed, where their special 
needs can be studied and work adapted to their ability given. They 
may then advance as rapidly as possible without hampering the 
progress of the normal children. 

When the new organization is effected the two-session plan with 
noon intermission should be adopted for all grades. The length of 
the school day decided upon will depend upon various conditions; 
for example, the adoption or rejection of the work-study-play plan. 
In any case, however, the present combination of the one and two 
session plans is not satisfactory. With the adoption of the enriched 
curriculum recommended, the variety of activities necessary to carry 



A NEW COURSE OF STUDY. 35 

out the program will require a full day for all grades. The course of 
study should provide definitely for proper distribution of the time 
of children and teachers. 

THE COURSE OF STUDY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL. 

Free election of high school subjects to the degree permitted in the 
Glynn high school is not desirable. It is better to prescribe a core 
of work for alternative courses with some opportunity for election 
of subjects within the group selected. In this respect the suggestions 
offered by the high school division of the State department of Georgia 
are well considered and should be carefully examined before substi- 
tutions and changes are introduced. Doubtless some modification 
of the suggestive course is desirable the better to adapt it to local 
needs and ideas, but in general its salient features are sound. It 
could well function more than it now does as a guide to the work of 
the Glynn high school. 

While the essentials are the same in the city and the country (and 
the length of terms should be also) the organization of classes in two, 
three, and four teacher schools will necessitate definite adaptation 
of the course to suit these conditions. Different methods of approach 
and presentation are necessary, based on the experiences and environ- 
ment of rural children. These adjustments should be made under 
the direction of the supervisors and tried out in the classroom as 
previously suggested. The one-teacher schools should not attempt 
more than five or six grades, preferably five. The consolidated 
schools might well include one or two years of junior high school 
work, provided there are more than two teachers. The last year of 
junior high and all senior high school classes should be given in the 
county high school at Brunswick. 

The organization of classes and the course of study itself should 
recognize the varying abilities of children and make provision for 
at least three groups: 

(a) Children of average ability who will complete the normal 
requirements of one grade a year. 

(b) Those who can not do so much and fall behind the class average 
but who can be expected to complete the essentials if confined to 
them. 

(c) Those who are of more than average ability. Some of these 
may be able to make more than one grade a year. Others can not 
go so fast but find the work of the average group too easy. 

In the lower grades there may be separate rooms for each group. 
In the upper grades the three groups may be in one room. The course 
of study should be so arranged as to supply teachers with directions 
concerning the amount of subject matter and the most essential 



36 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



topics to be covered by each group. This arrangement will enable 
teachers to deal with children more nearly according to their indi- 
vidual abilities. 

8. THE SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY SUFFER 
BECAUSE OF INADEQUATE FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 

THE PER CAPITA SCHOOL EXPENDITURE IN BRUNSWICK. 

Brunswick falls into that group of cities having a population 
ranging from 10,000 to 30,000. It will be of interest to see how 
Brunswick's expenditure for school maintenance compares with the 
expenditure for the same items among typical cities of her popula- 
tion group. The reports for the year 1917-18 are taken, for these 
are the latest reports available. The following table shows the facts 
based upon returns made to the Federal Bureau of Education: 

Expenditure for current school expenses, per capita of children in average daily attendance, 

1917-18. 



Cities. 


Current 
expenses. 


Average 

daily 

attendance. 


Average 
per capita 
expendi- 
ture. 


Alabama: 

Aruiiston 


$38,572 
59, 832 
34,844 
44,843 


2,410 
2,524 
1,768 
1,710 


$16.00 


Bessemer 


23.70 


Gadsden 


19.70 




26.23 






Total 


178,091 


8,412 


21.17 






California: 

Alameda 


248,615 
138,485 
123, 493 
401, 305 
403, 280 
180, 802 
125, 873 
211, 485 
327,778 
365,833 


4,067 
2,968 
2,074 
7,315 
6,183 
2,310 
1,637 
3,053 
5,413 
5,212 


61.13 


Bakersfield 


46.65 


Eureka 


59.54 


Fresno 


54.86 


Long Beach 


65.22 


Pomona 


78.27 


Redlands 


76.89 


Riverside 


69.27 


San Jose 


60.55 


Stockton 


70.19 






Total 


2,526,949 


40, 232 


62.80 






Georgia: 

Athens 


68, 797 
39, 190 
103,600 
41,577 
48,012 


2,120 
1,574 
3,621 
1,822 
1,945 


32.45 


Brunswick 


24.90 


Columbus 


28.61 


Rome 


22.82 


Waycross 


24.67 






Total 


301, 176 


11,082 


27.17 






Louisiana: 

Alexandria 


55,116 
41,761 
55,116 
41,761 
100,915 


1,811 
1,394 
1,811 
1,764 
4,431 


30.43 


Baton Rouge 


29.96 


Lake Charles 


30. 43 


Monroe 


23.67 




22.77 






Total 


294, 669 


11,211 


26.28 






North Carolina: 

Asheville 


111,522 
93, 751 
71,925 
91,951 
74, 229 
96,002 


4,410 
2,929 
2,486 
3,296 
2,973 
4,605 


25.29 


Durham 


32.00 


Greensboro 


29.33 


Raleigh 


27.89 


Wilmington 


25.97 


Winston-Salem 


20.84 






Total 


539,380 


20,699 


26.05 







FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 



37 



Expenditure for current school expenses, per capita of children in average daily attendance, 

191 7-1 8— Continued. 



Cities. 



Current 

expenses. 



Average 
daily- 
attendance. 



Average 
per capita 
expendi- 
ture. 



South Carolina: 

Columbia 

Greenville . . . 
Spartanburg. 

Total 



Virginia: 

Alexandria. .. 

Danviile 

Lynchburg . . . 
Newport New. 

Petersburg 

Staunton 



Total. 



$102, 912 
60, 121 
60,321 



223,354 



41,914 

76,025 

143,713 

102,912 

102, 912 

34, 117 



501.593 



$4,223 
3,228 
3,228 



10,679 



1,976 
3,318 
4,452 
3,321 
4,096 
1,134 



18,297 



$24.60 
18.62 
18.68 



20.91 



21.21 
22.91 
32.28 
30.98 
25.12 
30.08 



27.41 



From the foregoing table the following facts are obvious: 

1. Brunswick's expenditure was below that of Athens and Colum- 
bus in her own State and considerably below the average for the 
cities of her group in Georgia. 

2. She is above the average of cities of her group in Alabama and 
South Carolina, but below that of similar cities in Louisiana, North 
Carolina, and Virginia. 

3. Her expenditure was only about 38 per cent of the average 
expenditure of cities of her group in California, 

THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION OFFERED. 

In order that the board might keep within these financial limits, it 
has been necessary to deny the children all but the cheapest kind of 
educational opportunity. 

An education limited in the elementary grades to reading, writing, 
arithmetic, history, geography, and spelling is the cheapest type of 
education which can be offered for instruction in these subjects. It 
can be given by teachers without special technical training; in classes 
which are of a size limited only by the capacity of the classrooms; and 
with a minimum of equipment relatively inexpensive in quality. 
When a program of enriching school opportunities by introducing 
training in music, art, handwork, cookery, sewing, and household 
arts, manual training and industrial work, and providing for the 
needs of exceptional children is entered upon, classes must be made 
smaller, teachers with a more specialized training must be obtained, 
and a better and more expensive equipment must be secured. In 
short, whenever a board is unable to expend more than $25 per child 
per year on his education one invariably finds such education limited 
to the conventional school subjects. And so in Brunswick and 
Glynn County educational opportunity for the elementary school 



38 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

child is limited to a training which secures but little more than mere 
literacy. 

While a generation ago this was all the schools attempted or thought 
within their proper province, nevertheless, it is now clear that owing 
to the shift in the nature and character of our life the school must 
increasingly assume a larger share and responsibility in the education 
of our youth. There is a growing conception to which the school is 
increasingly responding that the true educational process does not 
consist in the accumulation of encyclopedic knowledge; that it is 
not effected from without inward; that it is not achieved by the 
imposition of authority but that it is based, rather, upon the pupil's 
individual activity; upon personal investigation and observation; 
upon forming judgments, reaching tentative conclusions, and testing 
out and checking up hypotheses. The school's business from the 
standpoint of this conception is to provide the opportunity, the 
leadership, and the coordinating influence without which the pupil's 
activity would be completely lacking in organization, having no ob- 
jective, and, in consequence, valueless. It is needless to remark that 
work of such character can never be accomplished with any success 
under the conditions in which our overcrowded, inadequately sup- 
ported, understaffed, poorly equipped schools are working. 

So, too, with high school education — the cheapest type of educa- 
tion — the type requiring the least outlay for equipment, for teaching 
staff, for housing facilities, requiring the least adaptation to individual 
needs, is the type comprised in the conventional college preparatory 
education. The Brunswick high school (Glynn Academy) has gone 
a step beyond this, however, for a course leading to business activities 
of a commercial type has been introduced; so, also, there is being 
organized a course for girls in household arts. It should also be 
added that in the bond call for $250,000 just passed upon favorably 
by the people provision is made for a memorial high school which 
shall give special attention to the vocational arts. To this extent 
high-school instruction in Glynn County is responding to the modern 
movement toward providing richer educational opportunities for 
the young people. To extend such work beyond the present begin- 
nings, however, a considerable increase in maintenance is needed, it 

is obvious. 

TEACHERS' SALARIES TOO LOW. 

Moreover, to keep within the average per capita school expenditure 
of $25 it has been necessary to ask teachers to work at salaries which 
under present conditions are below a living wage. The annual sala- 
ries of white teachers in the elementary schools of Brunswick range 
from $720 to $775 with an average of about $750; with the white 
teachers in the high school the range is higher, running among the 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 39 

women from $900 to about $1,200. In the rural schools salaries are 
lower, ranging from $50 to $70 per month for white teachers and for 
a six-months' term in several instances. The colored teachers in 
both city and country get much less, their average in the city being 
about $450 for a nine-months' term, while in the country the prevail- 
ing salary of colored teachers is $30 per month for a term usually not 
longer than six months. 

Board, room, fuel, and laundry cost the teacher who lives in Bruns- 
wick $50 to $60 per month. The teacher who receives the average 
salary paid of $750 has from $210 to $300 left after the cost of eating 
and sleeping for nine months has been deducted. Out of this margin 
she must live during the remaining three months of the year; provide 
her clothing for the entire year; pay for her amusements, her dentist 
bills, her insurance, and her church contributions; lay by a percent- 
age for the "rainy day"; improve herself professionally through 
attending summer normals, through the purchase of books and maga- 
zines, and through travel; and, in many instances, in addition, she 
must contribute to the support of dependents. It is clear that as 
matters now stand, on a yearly margin of from $200 to $300, the 
teacher is faced with an impossible task. In consequence of this 
inability to meet even the minimum essentials of such a need, so 
many teachers have left the classrooms to enter other lines of activity 
offering a more ample margin that the country is now literally facing 
a teacher famine. 

A first step of practical character which the board of education of 
Glynn County could well take in meeting this situation would be that 
of extending the present monthly payments, now 9 in the city of 
Brunswick, to 12. If this were done, teachers now receiving $720 
annually would be increased to $960, those now getting $765 
would receive $1,020, and others in like proportion. The terms of 
rural schools should be increased to nine months and the salaries of 
teachers increased in a manner similar to that suggested for city 
teachers. Even this advance, though it would mean an immediate 
increase of about 33 J per cent in salaries, is not sufficient as a perma- 
nent schedule. Neither, it should be said, would a flat advance of 
such character give the needed opportunity for recognizing special 
merit in terms of increased salary. In turn, for such salary increase, 
it would be entirely fitting for the board to require teachers to take 
work from time to time at summer normal schools or in other ways 
give evidence of professional and academic growth. 

Every one knows that some teachers in a department are worth 
much more than others, and every one knows, too, that this worth 
is not dependent upon length of service. The present plan upon which 
the salaries of Glynn County teachers are based offers no induce- 
ment for special industry or for sustained effort to secure self- 



40 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



improvement, for the teacher who does just enough to escape dis- 
missal gets quite as much as does the teacher whose heart is in her 
work. Again, there is a strong tendency among teachers as among 
all workers on salary, when middle age is reached and the maximum 
salary is attained, to permit the desire for a comfortable, easy-going 
life berth to outweigh the ambition for a steadily increasing per- 
sonal efficiency which can be gotten only at the expense of hard 
work and many denials of personal pleasure. A salary schedule 
should be so planned that not only can individual merit be recog- 
nized but self-improvement encouraged as well. The schedule 
which follows is designed to meet these conditions. Under present 
living costs it offers no larger remuneration to teachers than they 
ought to have. It is suggested as a goal which the Glynn County 
board should earnestly seek to reach at the earliest possible moment. 

A proposed salary schedule. 





Length 
of time 
of ap- 
point- 
ment. 


Salary schedule for each group. 


Yearly 

salary 

increase. 


Year in 
which 
group 
maxi- 


Teachers. 


Elementary. 


High school. 




Mini- 
mum. 


Maxi- 
mum. 


Mini- 
mum. 


Maxi- 
mum. 


canbe 
reached. 


1. One-year teachers (proba- 
tionary for 3 years) 


1 

3 
5 

0) 


$1,000 
1,225 
1,450 
1,700 


$1, 150 
1,375 
1,650 
2,000 


$1,200 
1,425 
1,650 
1,900 


$1,350 
1,575 
1,850 
2,200 


$75 
75 
50 
50 


Third. 


2. Three-year teachers 


Third. 


3. Five-year teachers 


Fifth. 


4. Permanent teachers 


Seventh. 







1 Until retired. 

When the maximum of each group is reached the following alternative courses should be open to the 
board of education: 

1. Termination of the contract (permissible each year in group No. 1). 

2. Reappointment annually at the group maximum. 

3. Promotion to the next higher group. 

The promotion from group to group beyond that of the three-year teachers should be granted only to those 
who have shown special merit and have given evidence of valuable professional study. To satisfy the 
latter condition, the board might require the cardidate for promotion to spend a year in study at some 
recognized college or university, or a year in teaching in some good school system in another part of the 
country, or perhaps a year in study and travel combined. In this connection a system of exchanging 
teachers might easily be established between Brunswick and other cities to their mutual advantage. 

A schedule such as the one prepared would have teachers who enter 
the first group looked upon as being on a probationary status, 
subject to reelection each year for three years. Those who are rated 
as " successful" at the end of this period may be promoted to the 
group of three-year teachers, where they will advance automatically 
by $75 increments for a period of three years. Those who are rated 
as " unsatisfactory" can in turn be continued from year to year 
at the maximum of the probationary group or dropped from the 
corps. When a teacher has reached the maximum of the ■" three- 
year" group, the board can then promote her to the " five-year" 
group if she has met the requirements demanded for promotion, 
reelect her from year to year at the maximum she has reached or 
dismiss her. And so when the maximum of the " five-year" group 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 



41 



is reached, the teacher who has won promotion by her success in 
the classroom and by her efforts at self-improvement can be made 
a member of the " permanent teacher'' group where she will remain 
until she retires. If, in the judgment of the officials, a teacher has 
not merited this promotion, she can be retained for a time at the 
maximum salary granted to the group she is in or be dropped. In 
this manner an adjustment can be worked out between the teachers' 
proper desire for security of tenure and the board's proper desire 
to eliminate the teachers who do not continue to grow in efficiency. 
At the same time the teacher knows that efforts at self-improvement 
will find tangible reward in terms of salary increase. 

In this connection the analysis of the teachers' needs made by 
the Massachusetts Teachers' Federation in a recent report will be 
of interest. The three possible types of wages discussed in the report 
were represented and defined as follows : 

SALARY RECOMENDATIONS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS' FEDERATION. 



An existence wage. 









Saving. 






Giving. 






Spending. 




Board. 






Clothing. 






Laundry. 


A thrift wage. 




Transportation. 






Health. 






Incidentals. 




A cultural wage. 


Necessities. 






Comforts. 




Luxuries. 






Reading. 




Recreation. 




Spiritual uplift. 




Improvement (self 
or professional). 





An existence wage pays for those least fit to undertake the responsibility of teaching. 
Their minds are unnourished, and they are distraught with worry about the future. 



42 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

A thrift wage brings relief from worry, but leaves the mind and 
soul hungering for those things which a teacher best knows she must 
have in order to do her duty. 

A culture wage includes the other two, and equips the teacher for 
greater usefulness in the school and in the community. 

At a meeting of teachers representing all parts of Massachusetts 
the above budget was filled in according to the consensus of opinion 
of all present. The result was an estimate of $1,382 for an existence 
wage, $1,612 for a thrift wage, and $1,812 for a cultural wage. Sub- 
sequent reports from various communities verified these figures as 
being a conservative estimate for a minimum. 

THE SALARY OF NEGRO TEACHERS. 

The salaries paid the Negro teachers are absurdly low, about $450 
per year of nine months in Brunswick and $30 per month for about 
six months, in the country. With the Negro schools, as with the 
white, the board should be in a position to require increasingly 
higher qualifications of the teachers and also to have a larger number 
from which to make selection. This can not be done until salaries 
are increased. 

As standards of education, professional training, and experience 
required of colored teachers are raised more nearly to approximate 
the requirements set for white teachers, as they indeed should be, 
more nearly also should the salary schedule of the former approxi- 
mate that of the latter. Among colored schools, as among white 
schools, conditions should prevail which will draw to the schoolroom 
teachers of the highest ability and of the best training. Colored 
men and women should find in the profession of teaching children of 
their own race an opportunity for a career of dignity and of the 
highest usefulness. 

THE SCHOOLS NEED A MORE LIBERAL EQUIPMENT. 

Not only has the effort of the Glynn County board to hold to an 
average expenditure of $25 per child made it necessary to limit the 
schools to a cheap type of education and to require the teachers to 
work for less than a living wage, but it has also made it necessary 
to ask the schools to conduct their work without the equipment 
necessary for securing efficient results. 

Doubtless one reason why more oral-class discussion of lively char- 
acter was not found either in the elementary schools or in the classes 
of high-school rank, though there were notable exceptions in both, 
is due to the pitiable lack of supplemental help, such as books, 
charts, maps, and illustrative material of various kinds which the 
modern school finds indispensable. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 43 

Without such enriching material the teacher is forced to depend 
entirely upon the textbooks which the pupils purchase. Now, a 
textbook because of its space limitations can be little more than an 
outline or a compendium of generalizations which its author has 
compiled. The mere memorization of these generalizations is of no 
educational value. The value comes in wisely guiding the child along 
the path the author took in reaching his generalizations and in show- 
ing the child some of the rich and interesting detail which the author 
had before him when he was occupied in writing his text. By having 
such concrete detail at hand and through the rough-and-tumble of 
an interested group discussion wherein the children themselves con- 
stantly raise the questions which their interest prompts, the wise 
teacher can make the abstract principles and formal statements of 
the text mean something. Such work is genuine teaching and its 
value is high, for thereby the child can be taught to attack a prob- 
lem; how and where to secure data necessary to the forming of valid 
conclusions; how to compare and contrast statements; how to dis- 
tinguish between the author's major point, his minor points, and the 
material which he employs to illustrate each; in short, thereby he 
can be taught how to study, and not only how to study while he is 
yet in school, but how to study for himself after he leaves school and 
begins his life work. 

A library of books, then, which correlates with the subjects studied 
in the classroom should be accessible to every child in Brunswick. 
Much of the work of each child should be that of delving into the 
rich material which can be assembled to seek out facts pertaining to 
the subject in hand, bringing these into the classroom, and pooling 
them with similar contributions by other members. In doing this 
the pupil will become familiar with library methods, with card cata- 
logues, with methods of finding material in magazine files, various 
encyclopedias and dictionaries, and how to use tables of contents 
and indexes. By so doing, not only is the child himself to a degree 
drawing his own generalizations from out the body of concrete detail 
which lies at hand (infinitely more valuable than memorizing an 
author's conclusions), but he is learning how, while he is yet in 
school, to employ the methods he must use when he gets out of 
school if he is ever to accomplish anything as a student. 

In respect to such fund of accessible material the pupils in the 
schools of Brunswick are badly handicapped; far more so, in fact, 
than are children who attend rural schools in many of the isolated 
places of this country. The few books which are in the high school 
library are kept locked up, because no way has yet been worked out 
for preventing loss when the children are given access to them; only 
beginnings of libraries have been started in the* elementary schools 
by parent-teachers' associations, while the board of education is too 



44 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

hard pressed for funds in other directions to do much in the building 
up of such vital equipment. In instances in the high school and in 
certain classrooms in the grades, individual teachers, out of their 
own salaries, have purchased material of this character. A differ- 
ence in the effectiveness of the work of such, as compared with those 
lacking such vitalizing and enriching material, is easily discernible. 

A unique and highl}' commendable interest in the school affairs has 
been taken in recent years by the present president of the Glynn 
County board of education. He has personally gone about from 
school to school giving talks on birds, trees, insect life, and on inter- 
esting natural features of the region, illustrated by pictures and 
slides. It would be difficult to estimate the good that has resulted 
through these talks given by one who himself is a lover of nature 
and a student of the ways of wild things. 

HIGH SCHOOL NEEDS WELL-EQUIPPED LIBRARY ROOM. 

The teaching activities of a high school, in particular, should be 
made to center about the library, for in no other way can the peda- 
gogical error be avoided of attempting to teach subjects instead of 
teaching how to study subjects. It is clear that in the limited time 
of a high school course, and with immature pupils who comprise the 
student personnel, no relatively complete mastery of any subject can 
be obtained. But a trail through the woods of each subject in the 
courses offered can be blazed, and the pupils can be taught how to 
use the tools which are indispensable to such work. Learning how 
to use a library — that is, learning how to use the tools of study — 
should be begun well down in the grades and continued throughout 
the entire school course. If pupils go through the elementary and 
high schools as they are now doing, without gaining any first-hand 
acquaintanceship with library methods, nor any appreciation of the 
need or value of books in pursuing their studies, it is difficult to see 
how, when they graduate and settle down in the community as 
citizens, they will be any more interested in securing better library 
facilities provided for at public expense than is the present citizen- 
ship of Brunswick. The schools will not have done their rightful 
duty in the matter unless through the practical work of the class- 
room a demand for books is created so insistent as to lead to action. 

A room convenient to the study hall of the high school should be 
set apart as a library room; a manual training department could equip 
it with tables, book racks, and filing cases for pictures and clippings. 
A teacher trained in library methods should be placed in charge; and 
a sufficient amount should be provided in the yearly budget to enable 
a good working aggregation of books adapted to the work of the 
classes to be quickly assembled. The invigorating influence of such 
an arrangement would be felt at once. 



FINANCIAL SUPPOBT. 45 

A working basis for such an allowance is suggested by Chancellor/ 
who has made a special study of the problems of school administra- 
tion. His estimate of what a school department should do in this 
connection, together with his comment thereon, follows: 

ESTIMATE OF A YEARLY ALLOWANCE FOR BOOKS AND SUPPLIES. 

As with a household of highly educated people, so with a school, the tendency is 
steadily to increase the demand for funds to meet increasing needs. To de2ire things 
and services is to live in civilization. The following standard of allowances for books, 
general supplies, manual training, etc., is a reasonable minimum where a community 
means to have good schools. With experience, much larger sums can be well spent, 
and education will be correspondingly improved. 

High school. 

Books (per pupil) $4 00 

Manual training '. 10. 00 

For science apparatus annually per class of 24 pupils 250. 00 

For reference books per class of 24 pupils 50. 00 

Stationery 1. 00 

Incidentals 1. 00 

Elementary schools. 

Grammar grades: 

Books (per pupil) $2. 00 

Manual training 4. 00 

Stationery .75 

Incidentals ' .50 

Primary grades: 

Books (per pupil) 1. 00 

Manual training 2. 00 

Stationery .50 

Incidentals .25 

Kindergarten: 

All supplies (per pupil) 1. 00 

General. 

For reference books per class of 42 pupils $20. 00 

For library (class) per class 25. 00 

9. THE ABILITY OF GLYNN COUNTY TO PROVIDE A LARGER 
MAINTENANCE INCOME FOR ITS SCHOOLS. 

SOURCES OF INCOME. 

The funds which support the schools of Br mis wick and the funds 
used to maintain the schools of that part of Glynn County lying out- 
side the limits of Brunswick, though administered by a single board 
of education (the county board), are kept separate and distinct, for 
the law provides that taxes for school purposes levied on property in 
Brunswick shall be experded within Brunswick and the funds derived 

i Chancellor, W. E. Our schools, their administration and supervision. (1909.) P. 383. 



46 



SCHOOLS OF BKUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



from the country outside shall be used exclusively for the schools 
outside of Brunswick. Under the Georgia school code the voters of 
a given taxation unit may by a two-thirds vote authorize the board 
of education to levy a tax for school purposes at any rate they deem 
wise not to exceed 5 mills on each dollar of assessed valuation. This 
authority was granted the Glynn County board; in addition, the 
board was empowered to levy an additional 3 mills on the property 
of Brunswick through the settlement of a long-standing controversy 
over the town commons, originally a tract of 1,000 acres of English 
crown lands set apart for the support of education. In the settle- 
ment it was agreed that, upon the relinquishment by the board of 
education of all claim to title (much of the land is now at the heart 
of Brunswick), the city would grant the board the authority to levy 
a tax for the support of the schools of the city not to exceed 3 
mills. In consequence, then, of this settlement and of the authority 
vested in the board by formal action of the people the board has the 
right to levy a tax on Brunswick property up to 8 mills and on the 
county outside of Brunswick up to 5 mills. In addition, under the 
act of 1885, a tax of three-eighths of a mill is levied on all property in 
the county but is prorated between the schools of the city and those 
of the county on the basis of the number of school census children 
living in each respectively. Then, in addition to these local taxes, 
the county receives its proportion of the State school fund, a propor- 
tion based on the school census, which is prorated between the schools 
of Brunswick and those outside of Brunswick, in turn, on the basis 
of the school census. This amounted to about $4 per census child 
in 1919. 

The following table gives a summary of the school income for the 
year 1919: 

Receipts for school maintenance, 1919. 



Sources. 



City. 



County. 



From State fund (prorated on basis of school census) 

From f-mill tax on entire county (prorated on basis of school census) 

From 3-mill tax (on county outside city) 

From 3^mill tax (on city only) 

From miscellaneous sources 

Total ,■ 



$12,978.14 

2, 643. 44 

18.99 

36, 613. 11 

1,266.64 



53, 520. 32 



$6, 942. 66 
1,421.56 
9, 543. 03 



257. 45 



18, 164. 70 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 

Expenditures for school maintenance, 1919. 



47 



Purposes. 



City. 



County. 



General salaries (prorated) 

Salaries of superintendent and superintendent's clerk (prorated) . 

Salaries of white teachers 

Salaries of colored teachers 

Supplies 

Freight and drayage 

Sanitation 

Repairs 

Fuel 



Insurance 

Interest 

Office expenses 

Janitors 

Miscellaneous 

Community school. 



$76. 95 

3,375.00 

32, 806. 12 

4,111.25 

2, 290. 85 

155. 80 

288. 49 

2, 000. 26 

932. 55 

800.33 

516. 67 

639. 50 

■ 1,923.79 

4, 134. 09 



$1.05 

925.00 

7, 527. 15 

2, 808. 50 

243. 57 



346. 08 
"225.66 



886. 11 
3, 352. 22 



Total. 



54, 051. 65 



16,314.68 



THE PROPORTIONATE AMOUNT WHICH BRUNSWICK EXPENDS ON 

HER SCHOOLS. 

In 1919 Brunswick expended the following amounts for the main- 
tenance of her several activities : 

Brunswick's expenditures, 1919. 



Purposes. 



Amount. 



General government 

Police department 

Fire department 

Health and sanitation 

Public works department 

Charities and hospitals 

THE SCHOOLS 

Libraries 

Cemeteries, parks and squares 

Light and water including pumping station. 



$13, 806. 29 
20, 238. 71 
28,440.95 
33, 372. 75 
37,935.14 
4, 803. 80 
36, 613. 11 



6,475.14 
24, 785. 14 



Total. 



206, 471. 03 



It will be of interest to learn how the schools of Brunswick fare in 
comparison with the police department, the fire department, the 
department of public works, and the other departments of Brunswick 
city government and in comparison also with expenditures for similar 
purposes among the smaller cities of the country. To make such 
comparison, however, an estimate of Brunswick's population must 
first be made. The board of trade of Brunswick places the population 
at 22,000; this is probably too high. For statistical purposes it would 
be fairer to come at a basis for an estimate in the following way: 
The school census in 1910 was 2,340; in 1919, 3,514, an increase of 
50 per cent. Applying this rate of increase to the 1910 census enu- 
meration of population of 10,182 would give 15,273 as Brunswick's 
present population. In the comparisons which follow it has seemed 
best to use 16,000 as the basis for determining the per capita expendi- 
tures. 



48 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



In 1919 Brunswick expended $12.90 per capita of population 
(16,000 estimate population) on its several departments, including 
the schools. The following table shows how this amount was dis- 
tributed. It also shows what the distribution was, on the average, 
among the 98 cities listed in " Group V," Financial Statistics of Cities, 
U. S. Census Bureau, 1918. While this group is made up of cities 
having between 30,000 and 50,000 population, nevertheless a com- 
parison between what Brunswick expends and the average expendi- 
tures of these cities will be of significance. It should also be noted 
that figures for Brunswick are for 1919, while those for the other cities 
are for 1918, the 1919, statistics not yet having been published 

Distribution of Brunswick'' s expenditures (1919) compared with other cities (1918). 



Purposes. 



Brunswick 
(1919). 



Average 

of 96 cities 

(1918). 



General government 

Police department 

Fire Department 

Health and sanitation 

Public works department 

Charities and hospitals 

THE SCHOOLS 

Libraries 

Cemeteries, parks and squares 

Light and water, including pumping station. 
All other purposes 



$0.86 
1.26 
1.78 
2.08 
2.37 
0.30 
2.30 



.40 
1.55 



Total. 



12.90 



$1.20 

1.28 

1.56 

1.41 

1.88 

.55 

5.90 

.21 

.41 



53 



14.93 



While this table shows how Brunswick compares with the average 
distribution of 96 cities nearest her in population, yet, because her 
total expenditure is considerably less per capita than the average, 
another table is needed to make her rank in these matters perfectly 
clear, and that is a table showing the proportion which each item 
bears to the entire expenditure. This table follows: 

Percentage distribution compared with other cities. 



Purposes. 



Brunswick 
(1919). 



Average of 
96 cities 
(1918). 



General government 

Police department 

Fire department 

Health and sanitation 

Public works department 

Charities and hospitals 

THE SCHOOLS 

Libraries 

Cemeteries, parks and squares 

Light and water, including pumping station . 
All other purposes 



Per cent. 

6.7 

9.7 

13.8 

16.1 

18.4 

2.3 

17.8 



3.2 
12.0 



Per cent. 
8.1 
8.6 

10.4 
9.4 

12.6 
3.7 

39.5 
1.4 
2.8 



3.6 



From this table it is clear, that as compared with the 96 cities of 
the United States having a population ranging from 30,000 to 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 49 

50,000, Brunswick's chief interest is in her police department, in her 
lire department, in health and sanitation, and in her department of 
public works, while her interest in her schools lags very far behind it, 
being, in fact, less than one-half that of the average city of the group of 
cities referred to. That is to say, if the proportion of Brunswick's 
expenditure for schools were doubled it would still fall short of the 
average proportionate expenditure for schools among the cities of 
the group with which Brunswick is compared. This serves to show 
in comparison how little Brunswick is doing for her schools. These 
comparisons are not made to suggest that Brunswick should cut down 
on the support of other departments, indeed, the commission was in- 
formed that more funds are needed by the various departments, but 
to suggest rather that Brunswick has reached a place in her develop- 
ment where it is obligatory that she raise more money for her needed 
activities and that she should expend a larger proportion of it on her 

schools. 

THE TAX RATE OF BRUNSWICK. 

The tax rate of Brunswick for 1919 was $18 per thousand of 
assessed valuation; $3.50 being set aside for the support of the 
schools. It will be of interest, here again, to compare this rate with 
the rates levied in the 96 cities of the group already referred to. 
Inasmuch, however, as the basis for assessing property varies so 
widely among cities, ranging anywhere from 20 per cent of the actual 
value to 100 per cent, before a comparison can properly be made, 
these rates must all be corrected on the basis of an assessment of full 
property value. In Table No. 30 of "Financial Statistics of Cities, " 
issued by the U. S. Census Bureau, the corrected rates are given for 
the 96 cities just mentioned. Brunswick's rate for city purposes of 
$18 per thousand must likewise be corrected. The survey commis- 
sion was informed that the assessment valuations of Brunswick 
property average about 60 per cent of the true value. If this is cor- 
rect then the rate of $18 corrected for this difference would be $10.80 
per thousand instead. 

Of the 96 cities referred to, 24 only have a lower corrected rate for city 
purposes than Brunswick, 72 having a higher rate. Of the 72 having 
a higher rate, 6 have a rate that is more than twice as great. Bruns- 
wick's true tax rate, therefore, in comparison with rates corrected in 
the same manner for the 96 cities of the United States falling into 
that group of cities nearest Brunswick in population which the 
Census Bureau has studied in matters of finance, is seen to be low, 
very low indeed. It must be remembered too that the rates given 
for the 96 cities with which Brunswick is compared are for 1918, 
while that of Brunswick is for 1919, which, in the comparison, operates 
in Brunswick's favor. 
10178°— 20 4 



50 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

THE PER CAPITA VALUE OF BRUNSWICK PROPERTY. 

One other comparison will be of interest and that relates to the 
per capita value of the property of Brunswick subject to a general 
property tax. The 1919 report of the tax assessor and collector of 
Brunswick shows a gross property valuation of $13,069,837. Certain 
exemptions, however, have been allowed, also the tax on certain 
public-service corporations is handled by the State comptroller 
direct, so that this gross valuation is reduced to a net assessed valua- 
tion of $10,589,182. If this represents 60 per cent of actual valuation 
then the true tax value of Brunswick's property is approximately 
$17,648,636. Assuming as has previously been done that the popu- 
lation of the city is 16,000, then the per capita true value for taxation 
purposes is $1,103 which is $66 less than the average per capita value 
of the taxable property of the 96 cities already referred to. 

In short, while Brunswick has a much lower tax rate than the great 
majority of the 96 cities mentioned, she has a taxation property value 
which approaches very nearly the average of the group. 

It must therefore be very clear that, iu comparison with other small 
cities of the United States, Brunswick can well afford to increase her 
tax rate to provide a more generous income for city activities and 
that in the distribution of such increased returns Brunswick should 
give a very much larger proportion to the maintenance of her schools. 

THE EXPENDITURE ON THE EDUCATION OF NEGRO CHILDREN. 

In the apportionment of the State school fund the distribution 
among the counties is based on the number of children between the 
ages of 6 and 18 living in each. Negro children count the same as 
white children in this distribution. In 1919, each census child 
entitled the county in which the child lived to a little more than $4. 

In 1918, the census shows the following facts about the proportion 
of white and Negro children between the ages of 6 and 18 living in 
Brunswick and in the county outside. 

School census, Glynn County (1918). 



Sections. 


White. 


Colored. 


Grand 


Male. 


Female. 


Total. 


Male. 


Female. 


Total. 


total. 




897 
300 


894 
248 


1,791 
548 


856 
437 


867 
446 


1,723 
883 


3,514 


Outside Brunswick 


1,431 






Total 


1,197 


1,142 


2,339 


1,293 


1,313 


2,606 


4,945 







Of the total number of colored school children (2,606) in Bruns- 
wick and Glynn County, as shown by the school census, fewer than 
one-half are enrolled in the schools supported by public funds. The 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT. 51 

others are either attending schools which are privately supported or 
else are not in school at all. In Brunswick there is but one Negro 
school. This is a school of 11 teachers and enrolling about 650 chil- 
dren. In the county outside of Brunswick there are 10 one-teacher 
and 1 two-teacher colored schools enrolling in the agregate fewer than 
500 children. 

In 1919, most of the rural colored schools were maintained only five 
months. The board hopes, however, to keep them open for six 
months during the present school year. In Brunswick the school for 
colored children is maintained for the full term of nine months. 
Nowhere in the county is there now opportunity in the public schools 
for a Negro child to obtain schooling beyond the eighth grade. Even 
an eighth grade is maintained only in Brunswick. It should be added, 
however, that in the recent bond call provision was made for the erec- 
tion of a manual training school for the colored children of the county, 
to be located at Brunswick, the school to cost approximately $37,500. 

The amount expended on colored schools in 1919 was about $8,000 
or about $7 per child for the year based on the number actually 
enrolled in the public schools. Based on the census enumeration of 
colored children, the amount expended per child for the year was 
about $3.07. 

Present facilities, then, accommodate approximately only 1,150 col- 
ored children, and many of these, it should be added, are given but a 
half-day session. The census shows that there are 2,606 colored chil- 
dren in the county between the ages of 6 and 18. In other words, the 
board of education has made provision for only about one-half the 
children of the Negro race who ought to be in school. 

THE BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT PROVIDED FOR NEGRO CHILDREN. 

The buildings in all cases are old, tumbled-down, decaying, dilapi- 
dated, disreputable buildings. The equipment is limited to benches 
and old-time desks and seats on which generations of white children 
have cut and carved their names. There are no books, maps, charts, 
or supplies of modern character. The efforts which the teachers in 
the schools have made to keep the rooms clean and to make them 
attractive are pathetic. These efforts, however, show what could be 
done and would be done were the teachers installed in attractive 
buildings with new equipment of modern type as they, indeed, should 
be. 

This very meager allotment of funds to the support of Negro schools 
accounts for the conditions under which these schools are operating- 
teachers in the country receiving $30 a month for six months or less; 
dilapidated buildings equipped with desks and benches discarded by 
the white schools; no maps, charts, books or materials of modern 



52 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

character; no opportunity provided at public expense for an educa- 
tion beyond the eighth grade; opportunity for only about one-half the 
Negro children for an education of any kind secured at public expense; 
and most of the children in the city attending only half-day sessions. 
In short, the survey committee can not too strongly urge that the 
board of education adopt a more generous program in dealing with 
the problem of the education of the Negro children of Brunswick and 
of Glynn County. 

THE ATTITUDE OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF EDUCATION ON THE 
EDUCATION OF NEGRO CHILDREN. 

The attitude of the Federal Bureau of Education on this whole mat- 
ter of the education of Negro children is well set forth in Chapter II 
of the survey report of the school system of the State of Alabama. 
That portion of the chapter in point is quoted as follows: 

In writing this provision of what education in Alabama should be and in making 
recommendations for the improvement and development of the State's system of public 
schools, it is remembered that the population of Alabama is made up of two races, 
differing in many other respects as widely as they differ in complexion, and that fully 
40 per cent of the people are of African descent, former slaves or the children and 
grandchildren of those who were slaves only a little more than half a century ago. 
The difficulties and cost of maintaining a double system of schools for two races and 
the prejudices against the education of Negroes, which is still strong in the minds of 
many of the good people of the State, have not been forgotten. Nevertheless, the 
committee unhesitatingly recommends that the State and its local communities 
undertake the task of the fullest and best possible education of all its people of both 
races, and assume the burden and responsibility of providing adequate schools for all 
children of both. The interests of each race depend to a very large extent upon the 
education of the other, and the welfare of the State depends on the education of both. 
This is the more easily seen when it is understood that education is not alone or chiefly 
for the profit of the individual educated, but for the service of society, State, and 
Nation; for the increase of material wealth, for safety from disease and crime, for civic- 
righteousness, and the fuller attainment of the higher ideals. Alabama can never be 
so rich, so strong, so free from disease and crime as she might and should be, and can 
never begin to attain the ideals long held by a large majority of the best of her people 
so long as the 40 per cent of her population which is colored are condemned to poverty, 
weakness, disease, crime, superstition, and low ideals, through ignorance and lack of 
proper education and training. However much one may wish it were otherwise, the 
two races in Alabama are bound up in the sheaf of life together. Their destinies are 
inextricably intertwined. Neither can rise or fall without affecting the other for good or 
ill. Industrial and agricultural efficiency and commercial prosperity require the 
education of all. Ignorant white farmers are an incubus upon the agricultural 
development of any State. So, also, are ignorant Negro farmers. Unskilled and 
inefficient white workmen retard industrial development. So do unskilled and 
inefficient Negro workmen. 

The ideals of Alabama demand absolutely that the two races be educated separately. 
Along with this should go the further demand that each race be educated in the way 
that will develop the particular kind of efficiency of which it is most capable, and which 
will assure its own happiness and welfare and its highest possible service to society, 
State, and Nation. This is due not only to the State as a whole, but the highest welfare 
of each race depends on it. There is no conflict of interests here. The prosperity of 



THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 53 

the people of either race in Alabama demands that there be the fullest and best educa- 
tion of the people of the other race as well as of its own. If either race is inferior in the 
things necessary to the welfare of the State, material, civic, or spiritual, it should have 
special help in making up this deficiency. If either has possibilities beyond the other 
for sendee in any particular field, these possibilities should be fully developed for the 
good of both races and of the State. This does not mean social equality or. social 
mixing. The figure of speech, wise as eloquent, used by Booker T. Washington in his 
Atlanta Exposition address many years ago, still holds and shall hold: "In all things 
purely social, separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to 
mutual progress. " Not by keeping Negroes from acquiring education can the white 
race retain its place of leadership, but by directing the ignorant Negroes aright and 
preparing them to become industrious and clean members of society. 

It will no doubt finally cost approximately as much in proportion to numbers to 
educate the children of one race as it will to educate the children of the other. If, 
through native ability, the children of one race respond more readily to the processes of 
education and profit more by them, the very lack of equal ability in the children of 
the other race may well be accepted as an indication of greater need for all that educa- 
tion can do for them. Toward greater equality in education and expenditures on the 
schools of the two races the State should, and no doubt will, move as rapidly as condi- 
tions will permit. 

10. TO RELIEVE THE CROWDED BUILDINGS IN BRUNSWICK AND 
YET KEEP WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE BOND ISSUE, THE 
SCHOOLS SHOULD BE REORGANIZED IN ACCORDANCE WITH 
THE WORK-STUDY-PLA Y PLAN. 

On December 18, 1919, the people of the county of Glynn voted to 
issue school bonds for $250,000 for the following specific purposes as 
announced in its bond call : 

Said $250,000 to be used and applied for the construction, building, and equipment of 
public school buildings in Glynn County, including a white high school, with facilities 
for vocational and industrial training and a vocational and industrial school for the 
colored youth of the county, to be known respectively as memorials of the public 
appreciation of the soldiers and sailors of Glynn County, white and colored, who 
have so successfully served in the Great War in defense of liberty and democracy. 

In a communication to the voters of Glynn County issued by the 
board of education, the following tentative distribution of the funds 
was proposed: (1) The erection of a Glynn County Memorial School 
for white children, to be located in Brunswick, at an approximate 
cost, including site, of $175,000; (2) a Glynn County Memorial School 
for Negroes, also to be located in Brunswick, at an approximate cost 
of $37,500; (3) a community school for white children, to be located 
at or near the Atlantic Co.'s refining plant, at an approximate cost 
of $37,500; (4) the remainder of the $250,000 to be expended in 
providing buildings for the children in rural communities. 



54 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

A SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM IS AN ENGINEERING PROBLEM. 

The county of Glynn is to be congratulated upon the fact that it 
has had the foresight and wisdom to devote this memorial fund to 
purposes which are as fundamental to the future welfare and pros- 
perity of the city and county as is the development of the public 
schools. Of course, it is important to expend the fund so that it will 
give the greatest possible returns to the city and county. But in 
order to do this it is necessary for the public to realize that the school 
building problem is an engineering problem, and that it can only be 
worked out by a scientific analysis of conditions. 

For example, no one would deny that children are more important 
than industries, yet as a general rule we devote far more time to the 
scientific planning of an industrial plant than we do to the develop- 
ment of a plant that is to turn out citizens who are to run the indus- 
tries. We would not think of putting up an industrial plant without 
first ascertaining whether labor was available, whether there was raw 
material at hand, whether there were adequate transportation facili- 
ties, or whether there was a demand for the product. Nor would we 
think of spending money only on the final processes of production 
while using old, outworn machinery and equipment for the founda- 
tion processes. 

In the same way, if the schools are to meet the needs of the children 
and of the community, the school building program must be based 
upon a scientific study of conditions, not upon guesswork. It is not 
enough to provide for a few children in the high school; the program 
must provide for all the children, colored as well as white, in elemen- 
tary school as well as in the high school. It is not enough to erect 
high school buildings to take care of the comparatively small per- 
centage of pupils who now stay through high school; it is important 
that congestion be relieved in the elementary schools and modern 
facilities provided so that more children will want to stay in school 
and go on to high school. Therefore, in order to make sure that the 
$250,000 bond issue voted for the schools of the county of Glynn 
gives full value for every dollar expended, it is necessary, first of all, 
that Brunswick answer the following questions : 

1. How many children are enrolled in the schools? 

2. What has been the rate of increase in the school population for a period of years? 

3. In what schools is the congestion greatest? 

4. What is the present condition of school buildings? Which ones should be aban- 
doned? Which ones can be added to? Where should new buildings be erected? 

5. Have the present school buildings the equipment and facilities which every 
modern school building should have? 

6. Is there adequate playground space for each school? 

7. In order to provide for present congestion and also to provide for growth, how 
can the situation be met? 

8. What apportionment of the funds is needed for each building? 



THE WOKK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 



55 



WHAT IS THE SCHOOL POPULATION OF BRUNSWICK? 

According to the last school census, 1918 (see table) there were 
3,514 children between the ages of 6 and 18 in Brunswick, 1,791 
whites and 1,723 Negroes. The compulsory school age in Georgia is 
from 8 to 14 years. The net enrollment in the public schools for the 
year 1918-19 was 2,089. Of this number, 1,425 were white children 
and 664 were Negro children. Evidently, according to these figures, 
the public schools are providing instruction for less than half the 
Negro children of school age. There are three private schools for 
Negro children, but this does not affect the point that less than half 
the total number of Negro children of school age are being educated 
at public expense. 

The school census of Glynn County, 1918. 



City. 


White. 


Colored. 


Grand 
total. 


Percent- 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


Boys. 


Girls. 


Total. 


age of 
total. 


Brunswick 


897 
300 


894 
248 


1,791 

548 


856 
437 


867 
446 


1,723 

883 


3,514* 
1,431 


71.0 
29.0 


Outside of Brunswick 


Total 


1, 197 


1,142 


2,339 


1,293 


1,313 


2,606 


4,905 


100.0 





THE RATE OF INCREASE IN SCHOOL POPULATION. 

Every school building program should provide not only for present 
needs but for future growth. Therefore, it is important to know 
the rates of increase in each school extending over a period of years 
in order to estimate the accomodations which will be needed. 

If we compare the net enrollment in the public schools in 1918-19 
with that of 1914-15, we find that the number of school children has 
increased from 1,302 to 2,(X69, or 58.9 per cent. According to the 
following table, the greatest increase has been in the Glynn grammar 
school (81.1 per cent), the next greatest in the Glynn Academy 
(58.6 per cent), followed by the Risley (50.5 per cent) and the Purvis 
(37.6 per cent). (See the following table.) 



56 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



Net enrollment for 1914-15 and 1918-19; per cent of increase in enrollment: capacity of 
school buildings — additional capacity needed, public schools, Brunswick, Ga. 





Capacity 

on basis 

of 40 

pupils 

per class. 


Net enrollment. 


Number 
of regular 
class- 
rooms 
avail- 
able. 


Total 
class- 
rooms 

required 
for 

present 
enroll- 
ment. 


Excess 
of class- 


Schools. 


1914-15. 


1918-19. 


Increase. 


Per cent 
of in- 
crease. 


rooms 
required 
over 
those 
avail- 
able. 


Elementary (white): 
Glynn grammar. . 
Purvis 


640 
320 

320 

320 


398 
231 

441 

232 


719 
318 

664 

368 


321 

87 

223 
136 


81.1 
37.6 

50.5 

58.6 


16 

8 

8 

S 


18 
8 

17 

10 


2 


Elementary (colored): 
Rislev 


9 


High School (white): 
Glynn Academy. 


2 


Total 


1,600 


1,302 


2,069 


767 


58.9 


40 


53 


13 







SCHOOL CONGESTION AND LACK OF MODERN FACILITIES. 

The present school buildings are inadequate to take care either 
of this increased enrollment or of future growth. There are four 
school buildings in Brunswick, three for white children and one for 
colored. There are 40 classrooms in these four buildings. But 
there are 53 classes (2,089 pupils) enrolled in these schools. In other 
words, there are 13 more classes than there are classrooms to accom- 
modate them. 

The preceding table shows how this congestion is distributed 
according to schools. In Glynn grammar school there are two more 
classes, or 80 more children, than there are school seats. In the 
Negro school, Risley, there are more than twice as many classes 
(17) as classrooms (8). 

In other words, Brunswick is not providing adequate seating 
accommodations for her children. Equally serious is the fact that 
at least two of the buildings in which the children are housed (Glynn 
grammar and Risley) are unfit for school purposes. Moreover, there 
are none of the modern educational facilities with which every pro- 
gressive school should be equipped. For example, with the excep- 
tion of the high school, not a single school building in Brunswick 
has an auditorium, or gymnasium, or shops, or laboratory, or cook- 
ing room, or drawing or music room, or nature study room, or library. 
It is true that the high school has some of these modern facilities 
though inadequate in number and character. Only 17.6 per cent 
of all the children, or 25.8 per cent of the white children, attend 
high school. 



THE WORK-STUD Y-PLAV PLAN". 57 

MODERN FACILITIES ARE NEEDED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AS WELL 

AS IN HIGH SCHOOLS. 

The surrey commission was told repeatedly of the desire of Bruns- 
wick to increase the high-school enrollment, a desire which resulted 
in the determination to devote $175,000 of the $250,000 to the erection 
of a high-school building with vocational and industrial facilities. 
The survey commission, however, is impressed with the need not 
merely for enriched high-school equipment but also for modern 
up-to-date elementary school facilities, which will result in keeping 
children in school longer, and in arousing such an interest in what 
the school has to offer that they will want to go on to high school. 
Education is a matter of growth. No community can house children 
in old, inadequate buildings, keeping them in school seats all day, 
giving them no opportunity for play, no chance to express themselves 
in wholesome activity, or to satisfy their natural scientific instinct 
to experiment with the world about them during all the early, most 
formative, period of their lives, and then reasonably expect them to 
have any interest in staying in school beyond the minimum time 
required. The percentage of children in high school (17.6 per cent) 
will not increase greatly until the 82.4 per cent of the children who 
are in the elementary schools have modern educational advantages 
in elementary schools. If Brunswick wants increased interest in 
high-school work, she must start with a reorganization of her element- 
ary schools to meet the modern requirements of such schools. 

But how is the city of Brunswick to relieve congestion and pro- 
vide modern school facilities for both elementary and high-school 
children, and at the same time keep within the limits of the proposed 
bond issue of $250,000? 

A study of the situation makes it obvious that these ends can not 
be obtained under the traditional type of school organization. That 
is, according to the traditional school program a school seat is reserved 
for the exclusive use of every child. That means that there must 
be a classroom for every class. As we have pointed out, there are 
13 classes in excess of the number of classrooms in Brunswick. While 
the cost of building varies in different communities, yet in the country 
at large it is found that the cost per classroom unit is approximately 
$16,000 at the present time. This means that in order to relieve 
congestion merely, without providing for future growth, it will be 
necessary to provide 13 additional classrooms at an approximate 
cost of $208,000 — nearly the total appropriation available. But 
this sum would provide for classrooms only, and each of the element- 
ary schools ought to have at least four special rooms, making 12 in 
all. This would mean an additional cost of $192,000, making a 
total of $400,000. But the situation is not so simple as this, for many 



58 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

of the present rooms in existing buildings are not fit for classroom, 
use, and consequently the cost would be even greater than the amount 
just given. Moreover, in putting up buildings or additions, the 
playground space would be lessened and therefore it would be neces- 
sary to buy additional playground space. And, finally, the estimate 
just given does not provide for future growth, so that at the end of a 
year or two the schools would be in as bad a situation as they are 
now. 

Obviously, it is impossible to meet the needs of the children of 
Brunswick on the basis of this traditional type of school organiza- 
tion. Brunswick is not peculiar in this respect; on the contrary, it 
is in the same situation as the large majority of cities all over the 
country. It is becoming increasingly evident that if the erection 
of new buildings on the usual basis of a reserved seat for every child 
were the only solution of the school congestion problem, cities all 
over the country would be facing an almost hopeless situation. For- 
tunately, however, there is another alternative which has already 
been adopted by some 30 or 40 cities in different parts of the country, 
by which not only can congestion be relieved but also modern school 
facilities given to the children. 

HOW THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN WOULD RELIEVE CONGESTION 
AND PROVIDE MODERN FACILITIES FOR THE CHILDREN. 

This second method is known as the work-study-play plan. Its 
chief advantages for Brunswick are (1) that it would relieve the 
school congestion, and do so within the financial limits of the city; 
and (2) it would also enable the school authorities to give to the 
children modern educational facilities — such as auditoriums, shops, 
and laboratories. 

The work-study-play plan is an attempt, not only to solve the 
school congestion problem, but also to give children a richer and 
fuller education. It grew out of a recognition of the fact that the 
rapid growth of cities makes the educational problem far more diffi- 
cult than formerly; in fact, has created a new school problem. 

CITY SCHOOLS MUST PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY FOR WORK AND PLAY 

AS WELL AS STUDY. 

The education of all children has, of course, always consisted of 
work and study and play, but formerly the farm and small shop 
supplied the opportunity for work and play, and the school needed 
to make provision only for academic study. In those days the 
environment of the average boy and girl furnished an education in 
wholesome activities that developed intelligence, initiative, and 
industrious habits. But during the past 50 years has come the 
growth of modern cities, until now half the population of the country 



THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 59 

is concentrated in them. And the city, with its overcrowding, its 
factories, its office buildings, and apartment houses which go up on 
all available vacant lots, is depriving children of the opportunity 
for the healthy, wholesome work and play which are essential ele- 
ments in their education. The city home or apartment, unlike the 
farm with its many necessities of "learning by doing," can offer 
few educational opportunities in the way of healthful work which 
develops the ability to think by attacking problems to be solved. 
There is no planting and harvesting to be done; few, if any, animals 
are to be taken care of; and it is a rare city home that has a work- 
shop or laboratory. Yet the children until recently have received 
much of their education through the opportunity to handle tools, 
to take care of animals, and to experiment in making and using 
things. The city not only fails to educate children in the right direc- 
tion; it educates them in the wrong direction, for the street, with its 
dangers to the physical and moral life of children, too often becomes 
their only playground; and street play means education, not in 
health and strength and wholesome living, but precocious education 
in all the vicious side of a city's life. 

For these reasons it has come to be recognized that the city school 
must not only supply the opportunity for study in good classrooms 
under wholesome conditions, but it must also return to the children 
the opportunity for healthful work and play which the home no 
longer provides. Play, an opportunity to develop mechanical ability 
and initiative, a practical knowledge of science, a wholesome social 
life and recreation — these have always been part and parcel of an 
all-round education; and these are the things which Brunswick, like 
many other cities, is not giving to her children. 

The work-study-play plan represents an attempt to meet these new 
problems in education, and to make it practicable, both administra- 
tively and financially, for school administrators to provide not only 
classroom accommodations, but also such modern educational facil- 
ities as gymnasiums, auditoriums, shops, and laboratories where 
children may be kept wholesomely occupied in study and work and 
play. 

HOW THE PLAN WORKS. 

Briefly, the plan is this: A school is divided into two parts, each 
having the same number of classes, and each containing all the eight 
or nine grades. The first part, which we will call the "A School," 
comes to school in the morning, say, at 8.30, and goes to classroom 
for academic work. While this school is in the classrooms, it obvi- 
ously can not use any of the special facilities; therefore the other 
school, "B School," goes to the special activities, one-third to the 
auditorium, one- third to the playground, and one- third is divided 



60 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



among such activities as the shops, laboratories, drawing and music 
studios. At the end of one or two periods; that is, when the first 
group of children has remained, according to the judgment of the 
school authorities, in school seats as long as is good for them at one 
time the "A School" goes to the playground, auditorium, and other 
special facilities, while the a B School" goes to the classrooms. 

The following table gives a possible program for the "A and B 
Schools" of say 12 classes. These classes are divided into three 
divisions of 4 classes each: Division 1, upper grades; Division 2, 
intermediate grades; Division 3, primary grades. 

The li A School: 1 





Regular activities. 


Special activities. 


School hours. 


Academic instruction. 


Auditorium. 


Play and phys- 
ical training. 


Cooking, shop, 
science, etc. 


8.30- 9.20 


Arithmetic — Divisions 1, 2, 3 . . 








9.2.J-10.10 


Language — Divisions 1, 2, 3. 








10.10-11.00 




Entire "A schoi 


si" at luncheon. 


Division 2. 


11.00-12.00 






12.00- 1.00 


Reading — Divisions 1, 2, 3 




1.00- 1.50 


History and geography — Divi- 
sions 1, 2, 3. 








1.50- 2.40 




Division 2 


Division 1. 


2.40- 3.30 




Division 1. 









The li B School." 





Regular activities. 


Special activities. 


School hours. 


Academic instruction. 


Auditorium. 


Play and phys- 
ical training. 


CooHng, shop, 
science, etc. 


8.30-9.20 




Division 2 


Division 3 

Division 2 


Division 1. 


9.20-10.10 




Division 1. 


10.10-11.00 


Arithmetic — Divisions 1, 2, 3. . 




11.00-12.00 


Language — Divisions 1, 2, 3. . . 








12.00- 1.00 




Entire "B School" at luncheon. 




1.00- 1 50 ... 








Division 2. 


1.50- 2.40 


Reading — Divisions 1, 2, 3 




2.40- 3.30 


History and geography — Divi- 
sions 1, 2, 3. 

















Under this reorganization on the work-study-play plan all the 
children would have not only the same amount of time for reading, 
writing, arithmetic, geography, and history as formerly — 210 
minutes — but also 50 minutes of play every day, 50 minutes a day of 
auditorium, and 50 minutes a day of shopwork every day in the 
week for a third of the year; science every day for a third of the 
year; and drawing or music every day for a third of the year. 

This program represents a change in the traditional method in 
several important points. In the first place, it breaks up the custom 
of having all children in classrooms at the same time and letting the 
classrooms lie idle when the children go to the auditorium, shops, 



THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 61 

and playground. In other words, it applies to the public school the 
principle on which all other public-service institutions are run — 
that is, the multiple use of all facilities all the time. For example, 
it is evident that our transportation system is made possible because 
of the fact that all people do not wish to ride at exactly the same 
time; concerts and theaters are made available to many people 
because one person can use another's seat when he does not want 
to use it; hotels can accommodate thousands of people because 
they are not run on the principle of reserving each room for the 
exclusive use of a single individual during the whole year. On the 
other h ind, the public-school system has been run on the principle 
of reserving a seat for each child during the whole } T ear. All children 
have to be in school seats from 9 to 12 a. m., and from 1 to 3 p. m. ; 
all have to go home to lunch at the same time; and at 3 o'clock all 
are dismissed and turned out to play. 

There would, after all, seem to be no good reason why the prin- 
ciple of other public-service institutions, i. e., multiple use of facilities 
all the time, should not apply to th.3 school, nor any reason why 
all children should be in classrooms at the same time, nor why the 
special facilities should be used only a fraction of the day, provided, 
of course, that the children receive during the day the required 
amount of academic work. In fact, it is difficult to see how the 
problem of providing enough classrooms, or playgrounds, or audito- 
riums for the mass of children is ever to be met if all children have 
to be in classrooms at the same time, and if all children have to play 
at once. Moreover, there seems to be no good reason from an edu- 
cational standpoint why children should all have to do the same 
thing at the same time. 

PRINCIPLE OF MULTIPLE USE MAKES MODERN EDUCATIONAL FACIL- 
ITIES FINANCIALLY PRACTICABLE. 

Fortunately, however, if the principle of multiple use is applied 
to public-school facilities, it is possible to provide not only adequate 
classroom accommodations but also auditoriums, gymnasiums, and 
shops for the mass of children. In fact, accommodations may be 
provided in all facilities, if they are in use constantly by alternating 
groups, at less cost than regular classrooms alone may be provided 
on the basis of a reserved seat for every child. For example, in 
a 24-class school, under the traditional plan 24 classrooms are needed 
in addition to all the other special facilities. Under the work- 
study-play plan only 12 classrooms are needed. The classroom, 
however, is the most expensive unit in the school, therefore since 
only half the usual number of classrooms is needed, i. e., 12 class- 
rooms in a 24-class school, the cost of the remainder is released for 
all the other special facilities. 



62 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

FLEXIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM. 

A program based upon the multiple use of facilities not only 
makes possible modern educational advantages for the children, 
but it also makes it possible to have a flexible program. A study of 
the different types of these schools in different parts of the country 
shows that it is possible for a community to adapt the program to 
its particular needs. For example, it is possible to arrange to have 
the school begin at 8.30, 8.45, or 9 a. m., or any other hour desired. 
Or if the school begins at 8.30 and certain parents object to having 
their children leave for school so early, it is possible to put these 
children in the a B school," which begins the day with special 
activities; in this case the children can omit the play period from 
8.30 to 9.20 and arrive at school at 9.20. Or, again, many parents 
prefer to have their children take special music lessons after school. 
It often happens that home work or staying after school interferes 
with these lessons. Under the work-study-play plan it is possible 
to put such children in the "A school" and let them omit the play 
period or the auditorium in the afternoon from 2.40 to 3.30. 
There is, of course, no reason why children should not be given credit 
for these out-of-school activities if so desired. Again, a child who 
is backward in a special subject, such as arithmetic, and is being 
held back a grade because he can not master that subject, can 
double up in arithmetic for a number of weeks by omitting the 
auditorium period until he has made up the work and is ready to 
go on with his grade. As for the special activities, each community 
and each section of the city can have the special facilities which the 
school authorities and parents desire. 

THE SCHOOL TAKES OVER THE STREET TIME OF THE CHILD. 

As has been pointed out, one of the most undesirable elements 
in the life of city children is the street life in which they have 
hitherto spent so large a part of their time. The average city school 
is in session about 180 days in the year. This means that even 
though all the children attended the entire time, they would still be 
out of school 185 days in the year. Obviously, because of the condi- 
tions of modern city life, it is necessary that the school take over some 
of the time now spent by the child on the city streets, especially 
during the school year. At present if 10 hours of the 24 are allowed 
for sleep, and 6 for meals and home duties, there still remain 8 hours 
to be accounted for. Even if the children were in school 5 hours 
every day there would still be 3 hours left, and, as is well known, 
these hours are spent on the city streets and not always to the 
child's advantage. At least one or two of these should be taken over 
by the school and wholesome activity in work and play provided. 



THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 63 

The 'work-study-play plan does this by lengthening the school 
day an hour or more as each community may desire, and by offering 
to the children the wholesome activity in shops and laboratories 
and on the playgrounds which is so essential for them. It should 
be borne in mind, however, that this lengthening of the school day 
does not necessarily lengthen the number of teaching hours of any 
teacher. It is necessary that she be around the building six hours, 
but she need not teach more than five hours. 

APPLICATION OF THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN TO BRUNSWICK'S 

SCHOOLS. 

Let Us consider the practical application of this plan to the schools 
of Brunswick. In the first place, the fact should be emphasized 
again that the problem is to relieve school congestion and the un- 
desirable conditions obtaining in old buildings and to give all the 
children in Brunswick — elementary as well as high school pupils — 
modern educational facilities. According to the terms of the bond 
issue, the proposal was to put up a high school with vocational and 
industrial facilities for white children and a vocational and indus- 
trial school for Negro children. Inasmuch, however, as the condi- 
tions in some of the elementary schools are so bad and inasmuch as 
high-school development is dependent upon a sound elementary 
school foundation, the survey commission feels convinced that if the 
people of Brunswick fully understood the facts they would see the 
importance of correcting the conditions in the elementary schools as 
well as providing for the high schools. Therefore, the commission 
is making its recommendations with a view to covering both the 
elementary and high school situations. 

THE GLYNN GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND THE GLYNN ACADEMY. 

The Glynn grammer school is an old building of 16 classrooms. It 
is unfit for school purposes. Not only are there no modern facilities, 
such as an auditorium, gymnasium, shop, or laboratory, but the 
building is old, insanitary, badly heated, and badly lighted. No 
child should be permitted to attend school in the middle section of 
the building. The lighting in this section — in fact, in all parts of 
the building, except in the four upper rooms at each end — is so bad 
that the eyesight of the children may be seriously impaired. The 
ventilation is bad and heating by stoves most undesirable. The 
whole building ought to be abandoned as unfit for children. It is 
understood, however, that public sentiment would not favor this at 
the present time. Frankly, the survey commission feels that if the 
fathers and mothers of the children had the faintest conception of 
the harmful effects of having their children sit four or five hours a 
day in those old, dark, badly ventilated, overcrowded rooms, they 



64 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

would not tolerate such conditious for an instant. However, on the 
assumption that a majority of the voters wish to retain this old 
building, we make the following alternative recommendations for 
relief in that school. 

In 1918-19 there were 719 children enrolled in the Glynn grammar 
school. On the basis of 40 children to a class, that means 18 classes. 
But as there are only 16 rooms, there are two more classes (80 chil- 
dren) than rooms to accommodate them. To erect a building on 
the traditional plan of school organization, to take care of the two 
extra classes, plus an auditorium, gymnasium, and two shops, a 
drawing room and music room, would necessitate a building of at 
least 10 units, which would cost $160,000, and the majority of chil- 
dren would still have to use the rooms in the old building as class- 
rooms. Under the work-study-play plan, however, any one of the 
following plans would be possible. 

PLAN I. 

(On the basis of using the old Glynn grammar building, with grades, 1-6, and the 

Glynn Academy with grades 7-11.) 

Make the Glynn grammar school into a 20-class school. This 
would provide for 800 pupils, or for a growth of two classes. Under 
the work-study-play plan, it would then be necessary to have 10 
classrooms. The four rooms in the upper ends of the old building could 
be used as classrooms. The partitions in the middle section could 
be torn out, making two rooms, one to be used as a drawing room and 
the other as a music room. On the first floor, two of the end rooms 
could be used for cooking and sewing and the other two for printing 
and manual training. In the middle section on the first floor, one 
of the rooms could be used for the principal's office and one for a 
teachers' rest room. The remaining two rooms could be used as 
storerooms for the shops. A new building should then be erected 
at the rear of the old building. It should contain six classrooms, 
an auditorium, and a gymnasium, and should be so constructed that 
it could be added to as the need arises. Under these circumstances, 
it would be necessary to have additional play space; therefore, the 
lot directly across from the school and to the rear of the public 
square should be purchased and the street between the lot and the 
school closed. 

The cost is estimated as follows for Plan I: 

New building of six classrooms, auditorium and gymnasium $128, 000 

Repairs to existing buildings 1, 000 

Equipment for cooking room, old building 2, 000 

Equipment for two shops, old building 2, 000 

Purchase of lot for playground 5, 000 

Total 138, 000 



THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN. 65 

The Glynn Academy could be provided for as follows: It has 368 
pupils, or 10 classes on the basis of 40 pupils to a class. There are 
eight regular classrooms in the building, four special activity rooms, 
two study rooms, and four very small rooms. By reorganizing the 
school on the work-study-play plan, five rooms could be used as class- 
rooms, leaving three others and the four in the basement for special 
activities, e. g., chemistry laboratory, physics, drawing, woodworking, 
printing, and cooking, as well as the small rooms for commercial 
work. One study room could be made into an auditorium and the 
other into a gymnasium. All this could be done at no expense. 
Congestion would be relieved, and three additional rooms for special 
activities provided. If this plan does not provide for as small classes 
as are desired, this difficulty can be met by lengthening the school 
day still more, thereby increasing the number of teaching periods, 
a method used by many high schools in the country. 

The objection to this plan might be that the bond issue provides 
that the money shall be spent for a high school with vocational and 
industrial facilities. As a matter of fact, by means of the above 
reorganization, these facilities are given to the high school children 
without additional expenditure, and at the same time the elementary 
school situation is relieved. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out 
that this plan might involve the necessity of resubmitting to the 
voters of Glynn County the whole question of the purposes for which 
the school bonds were issued. If this should not seem desirable to 
the board of education Plan II is submitted. 

PLAN n. 

(On the basis of having grades 1-8 in the Glynn Academy, and grades, 9, 10, 11, in 

the new building.) 

It is impossible with the present appropriation to put up both a 
new elementary school building and a new high school building, yet 
the conditions in the Glynn grammar school are so bad that they 
must be relieved. Under Plan II it would be possible to house in 
the present Glynn Academy grades 1-6 — now in the Glynn grammar — 
and also grades 7-8. This would make a total of 935 pupils, or 24 
classes. There are eight regular classrooms in the academy, and by 
putting up partitions in one of the study halls, four additional rooms 
could be obtained, making the necessary 12 classrooms under the 
work-study-play plan. The other study room could be used for an 
auditorium, and the four rooms in the basement for cooking, manual 
training and print shop. 

A building could then be erected for the high school students from 
the ninth through the eleventh years — 152 pupils. This would make 
four classes. A building of six units with an auditorium could be 

v 10178°— 20 5 



66 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

erected. This would provide the two classrooms needed and four 
special activities, e. g., chemistry laboratory, physics laboratory, 
metal shop and wood- working shop. This new building would cost 
approximately $128,000. But a gymnasium would be needed for 
both the high school and elementary school students on days when 
it rained; therefore, two portable gymnasiums should be erected. 
These would cost $5,000, making a total of $133,000. The purchase 
of the lot at the rear of the high school would bring the total to 
$135,000 approximately. 

Obviously, however, this new high school building would not con- 
tain enough special activities. The high school students should 
have a drawing room, a music room, two other shops, a commercial 
room, and a library. These special activities could be provided in 
the old Glynn grammar building, somewhat remodeled for the pur- 
pose. The high school already has the equipment for these rooms 
except for the two additional shops. Estimating the shop equipment 
at $2,000, and repairs to the Glynn grammar at $1,000, the total cost 
for the new building and reconstruction of Glynn grammar would be 
$138,000. 

Estimated cost of Plan II: 

New building of six units and auditorium $128, 000 

Two portable gymnasiums 5, 000 

Purchase of lot for playground 2, 000 

Additional shop equipment 2, 000 

Repairs to Glynn grammar 1, 000 

Total 138, 000 

The advantage of this plan is that it conforms to the requirements 
of the bond issue that a high school building should be erected, 
although from the point of view of administration it is more incon- 
venient than Plan I. 

PLAN HI. 

(Based on abandoning the present Glynn grammar school building and combining 
the elementary school and junior and senior high school in one building.) 

There is a third alternative and that is to combine the Glynn gram- 
mar and Glynn Academy schools. For example, Glynn grammar 
has 18 classes and Glynn Academy 10. Glynn grammar includes 
grades from the first to the sixth and Glynn Academy grades 7 to 11, 
inclusive. By combining them, it would be possible to have a 
school of 30 classes, or 1,200 children, thus providing for an increase 
of 113 children (3 classes) over present enrollment. That means 
that under the work-study-play plan, 15 classrooms would be needed. 
All the classrooms could be obtained in the Glynn Academy by put- 
ting up partitions in the two study rooms, thus making 8 additional 
rooms, or 16 classrooms in* all. This would leave 4 special rooms in 



THE WORK-STUD Y-PLAY PLAN. 67 

the basement, together with the extra classroom for special activi- 
ties. Two could be used for domestic science, as is done now, 1 for 
a manual training shop, 1 for a print shop, and 1 for a drawing room. 

A new building could then be erected on the lot to the rear of the 
school. This could contain simply special activities, such as an 
auditorium, a gymnasium, a chemistry laboratory, a physics labo- 
ratory, a music room, a metal shop, and woodworking shop. 

The cost is estimated as follows for Plan III: 

New building of Bix units and auditorium and gymnasium $128, 000 

Repairs to existing building * 2, 000 

Purchase of lot 2, 000 

Total 132, 000 

This new building could be added to as the need arises. All the 
children in the school could use the special activities in common, 
although the jui ior and senior high schools could have a separate 
organization from the elementary school. There would be a new 
building with vocational and industrial facilities, as called for in the 
bond issue, although they would not be used exclusively by the 152 
children in the high school, but would also be used by the children 
in the other grades. Furthermore, there is no duplication in equip- 
ment, such as two auditoriums in schools ac#oss the street from each 
other, or two cooking rooms, etc. If, however, there is any objec- 
tion to housing the 11 grades in one school, either one of the other 
plans can be carried out. 

THE PURVIS SCHOOL. 

There are 318 pupils, or 8 classes, in the Purvis school. This is 
a good building, clean and well lighted. There are 8 regular class- 
rooms, but no special rooms or auditorium or gymnasium. There 
is a good-sized playground. If reorganized, however, on the work- 
study-play plan, 4 of the rooms could be used as classrooms and 
the other 4 used as a drawing room, cooking room, nature study 
room, and shop. A portable auditorium, well made and completely 
equipped, could be obtained for $2,500, f. o. b., and a gymnasium, 
fully equipped, for the same price. The lot to the north of the 
school should be purchased for extra play space. The total cost 
would be as follows: 

1 portable auditorium $2, 500 

1 portable gymnasium 2, 500 

Equipment for cooking room 2, 000 

Equipment for shop 1, 000 

Lot 2,000 

Total 10,000 



68 SCHOOLS OF BKUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

THE RISLEY SCHOOL— COLORED. 

There are 664 pupils in this school. The building is an old, bare- 
frame structure of eight rooms. There is no equipment except old 
worn desks and seats, which have been discarded by the white 
schools. On the basis of 40 pupils to a class, there are 17 classes, or 
9 more classes than there are classrooms. The school is so crowded 
that it is on double session, one group coming in the morning at 8.30 
and staying until 11.30; the other coming at 12 and staying until 
3 p. m. 

In other words, each child gets only three hours' schooling, and 
under great handicaps. For example, at the time of the investi- 
gation the teacher in the first grade was trying to teach 72 children 
in the morning and another group of 72 in the afternoon. And yet, 
in spite of the very great handicaps under which they are laboring, 
the teachers and principal are conducting the school in a spirit which 
deserves the highest praise. It is remarkable how clean and neat this 
old building is kept. In fact, the effort on the part of both children 
and teachers to make the best of a very bad proposition is pathetic. 
There is a very evident desire to build up a strong, progressive 
school. Such a spirit deserves not only commendation and en- 
couragement but also the school accommodations and equipment 
which will give the children and teachers the opportunity for growth 
that they desire. Obviously, the proposed allotment of $37,500 for 
this school would be utterly inadequate for the erection of a new, 
permanent building for the Negro children. It would accommodate 
a little over two classes on the traditional plan, or four on the work- 
study-play plan, when, as a matter of fact, there are even now nine 
classes in excess of classrooms, not to mention the fact that there are 
no modern facilities for the children and that most of the rooms in 
the old building are unfit for use. The expenditure of $37,500 would 
hardly begin the construction of a permanent building for Negro 
children. It is obvious, however, that the present deplorable con- 
ditions in the Bisley school must be relieved and modern facilities 
provided for the children. Therefore, pending the erection of a 
permanent building the following recommendations are made: 

This school should be made into an 18-class school. This would 
provide for 720 pupils. There is only one room in the old building 
that is fit to use as a classroom, but at least five could be used for shops 
and other special activities. It is proposed, therefore, that in the old 
building one room be used for a classroom, one for a manual- 
training shop, one for the printshop, one for a library, and one for a 
music room, or any other combination of special activities desired. 
The equipment for the two shops would be approximately $2,000. 
There is already a portable building for domestic science. It is further 



COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING PLAN. 69 

proposed that a portable building of the modern type, which includes 
an auditorium, gymnasium, etc., be erected, to consist of the following 
units: Eight classrooms, $8,000; auditorium, $2,500; gymnasium, 
$2,500; nature-study room, $1,000; drawing, $1,000; total, $15,000. 
These units can be combined so as to make a whole building with 
a corridor in the center, heating plant, showers for boys and for girls, 
a store, toilets, etc. The whole building, together with the equip- 
ment for the special activities in the old building and repairs, would 
come to $25,000 approximately. It could be erected near the present 
building and still leave room for play space. 

Total estimated cost of proposed building program for Brunswick. 

Glynn grammar and Glynn academy $138, 000 

Lot for Glynn grammar and academy 5, 000 

Purvis school 10, 000 

Risley school ...*... 31, 000 

Total 184,000 

//. THE BOARD SHOULD ADOPT A COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING 
PLAN FOR THE COUNTY SCHOOLS. 

CONDITION OF BUILDINGS 

It will be necessary for the school board to adopt a comprehensive 
building program for the county in order that the present and future 
needs for school housing may be met. If the attendance law 
were enforced and all the children of school age were enrolled in school, 
there would be neither buildings nor desks to accommodate them. 
There are no buildings for white children suitable for school purposes, 
except those at Community and Brookman, and these will need some 
changes and additions. For colored children the county has made 
even less provision. With some repairing, provision for proper 
lighting and heating, and the addition of toilets and pure water, the 
schools at Sterling, Clayhole, and Pennick can be made habitable. 
All others at present in use should be abandoned. Fortunately many 
of these do not belong to the county, so the loss will be negligible. 

With the exception of the buildings named above those now in use 
are insanitary, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. In all of them 
cross-lighting or insufficient lighting or both endanger the eyes of 
the children. On cold days they huddle about the stove on benches, 
unable to use their desks or properly prepare lessons or participate in 
recitations. ' Without exception the stoves are unsightly, rusty, with 
pipes and chimneys in bad condition. Most of the stoves are placed 
on bricks or in boxes filled with dirt, old papers, and the like. Fuel 
if generally supplied by the children themselves, who bring it from the 
woods near by. The community school is the only one provided with 



70 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

pure running water and drinking fountains, and there is no provision 
for washing hands in any school. Only three white schools and one 
Negro school are equipped with sanitary toilets. None of the schools 
have oiled floors and no provision is made for proper sweeping. In 
the rural schools the children do the sweeping at noon and at recess, 
returning immediately to breathe the dust stirred up thereby. Any 
disease which happens to break out among any of the children is 
almost necessarily communicated to the others. 

The schools throughout the county are without teaching equip- 
ment. At least one white school and five colored schools have no 
teacher's desk or chair. With the exception of two schools there 
are no globes, maps, or illustrative material. The classrooms are 
not equipped with blackboards of a kind or quantity sufficient to be 
of practical use. In several schools, both white and colored, there 
are no usable blackboards at all. A few yards of black cloth or a 
few feet of painted boards do not serve the purpose for which black- 
boards are intended. 

The need for buildings is immediate, but the carrying out of complete 
plans may extend over a period of years. Not only should the mini- 
mum needs of comfort, sanitation, and convenience be provided, but 
the buildings used should be a lesson to the community in artistic 
housing. Buildings may be attractive without additional expense. 
Care and thought in planning them are all that is necessary. In this 
connection it is recommended that a committee of the board visit 
the schools maintained by the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co., near 
Birmingham, Ala. These schoola are splendid examples of good 
taste and practical efficiency in arrangement and cost. They pro- 
vide auditoriums, playground facilities, home economics, school 
gardens, supply closets, and the like, in addition to the provisions 
ordinarily considered necessary in school buildings. 

Fortunately at this time the county is in financial position to make 
such plans as are contemplated herewith. In formulating a building 
scheme, however, the board must not fall into the error of multiplying 
the number of small schools. Unless the consolidation of schools 
and the transportation of pupils at public expense are entirely out of 
the question, no one-teacher schools should be retained or new ones 
erected. This recommendation is in line with the best modern 
practice. A few reasons for consolidating schools even when sub- 
stantial buildings must be abandoned to do so are given below: 

ADVANTAGES OF CONSOLIDATION. 

1. The school plant, experimental plots, auditoriums, buildings for 
country training and home economics, room for playgrounds, and 
teachers' homes can be furnished to country children in consolidated 
schools but can not be supplied to one- teacher buildings. 



COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING PLAN. 71 

2. The consolidated school is the only one in which a modern course 
of study can be offered to rural children. When the responsibility 
for teaching all the elementary grades falls upon one teacher, only 
the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic can be taught, and 
even under such circumstances the teacher's time must be divided 
among too many subjects and classes. Schools preparing for rural 
life should include among the subjects taught agriculture, farm and 
shop work, home economics, physical education, music and the like. 
Teachers prepared to present these special subjects and modern 
facilities are necessary. It is apparent they can be supplied econom- 
ically only through consolidating small schools. 

3. Professional supervision can be secured only through consolida- 
tion. The difficulty of organizing and preparing courses in one- 
teacher schools makes supervision of greater importance in the 
country than in the city, but it is practically impossible for super- 
visors to direct the work of teachers when the latter are separated 
by long distances. 

4. Teachers in small schools in the county are hearing from 20 to 
36 recitations per day. That means that each recitation is from 5 
to 15 minutes in length. Children in the primary and first grades 
have the attention of the teacher from 30 to 60 minutes during the 
school day — children in the upper grades only little more. The 
teachers must hurry from recitations in arithmetic or geography to 
those in reading or history. They have no time to give to thoughtful 
preparation, careful assignment, or supervised study. The children 
are left to their own resources during the greater part of the school 
day without direction or individual attention. Under these con- 
ditions the recitation becomes a mere repetition of the textbook. 

5. Indifferent organization, inadequate supervision, and poor 
methods of teaching are reflected in the school attendance. Children 
need the inspiration which comes from numbers associated together 
and the incentive of competition in order to attend regularly and 
work well. Where consolidation has been tried out it has invariably 
resulted in increased enrollment and better attendance. 

6. Unless schools are consolidated it is not possible to build cottages 
and provide satisfactory living conditions for the teachers. This 
results in securing only untrained and inexperienced persons. 

7. State superintendents, county superintendents, farmers, and 
business men testify to the fact that land values increase in the 
vicinity of consolidated schools. It is also true that better and more 
progressive farmers are attracted to commuities in which the superior 
advantages furnished in consolidated schools are available for their 
children. 



72 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

DETAILS TO BE CONSIDERED. 

In formulating a building program, there are a number of details 
which the board should keep in mind. In the buildings themselves 
consideration should be given to sanitary and hygienic requirements ; 
to heating, lighting, and seating arrangements; to suitableness of 
location and to pleasing appearance. School sites should be selected 
on locations that are high and well drained and large enough to 
afford ample space for playgrounds and gardening spots. Each 
school should have at its command 10 acres, certainly not less than 
5. An auditorium at each school large enough to accommodate 
the people of the community as well as of all the children of the 
school should be provided. Rooms for such special activities as 
home economics, shopwork, and the like, besides cloakrooms, storage 
and supply closets, are also needed and should be arranged for in 
any building program adopted. 

When transportation is provided it should receive the interested 
attention of the board. Only reliable adults able to maintain dis- 
cipline among the children should be in charge of trucks and wagons. 
Not too many children to be properly seated should be placed in each 
truck. The danger of children standing or hanging on the outside of 
transportation trucks is obvious. The board should take every 
precaution to avoid accidents. Wagons should run promptly on a 
fixed schedule, as regularly as trains, with meeting points provided 
at convenient places where the trucks should wait from 5 to 10 min- 
utes for the children to arrive. Truck drivers should be under bond. 
In many localities transportation by contract is found more satisfac- 
tory than under the direct management of the school board. Reliable 
farmers or garage owners are given the contract to transport children 
at a fixed per capita price. This necessitates less responsibility on 
the part of the board and is no more expensive ; in fact, is often more 
economical than other plans. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR RELIEVING PRESENT CONGESTION. 

The following suggestions are offered to relieve the present housing 
emergency in the county: 

The community school should be enlarged. It is at present 
crowded beyond its capacity and the children at the Oil Refinery are 
not provided for. There are ample grounds for all purposes including 
the teaching of agriculture at the Community site. A four-room 
building is too small for economy or efficiency and partakes of many 
of the weaknesses of the isolated one — or two-teacher schools. 
Modern equipment in the way of grounds and rooms can be supplied 
most economically with one large building to accommodate the 
people at Community and the Oil Refinery. 



COMPREHENSIVE BUILDING PLAN. 73 

The question of maintenance at reasonable expense is of equal im- 
portance. A capable principal can be secured only by paying a 
liberal salary. Such a principal can supervise a large building as 
well as a small one. Teachers trained to teach the new subjects 
which should be introduced into the course of study can be secured 
with little additional cost in a group of from 6 to 10 but would prob- 
ably have to be dispensed with if two small buildings are utilized 
instead of one. 

Since the oil plant is only about a mile from the community build- 
ing, transportation would probably be unnecessary. However, even 
if it were necessary, the expense of supplying it would be less than 
the expense of maintaining two schools. 

As soon as satisfactory building arrangements are consummated 
the children from Cypress Mills and the Thornton communities 
should be enrolled in the schools of Brunswick. The present trans- 
portation plan is both unsatisfactory and wasteful. There is no real 
justification for taking children 2h miles past the Brunswick schools. 
The children of Cypress Mills can walk to the street-car terminus 
and go to Brunswick with the expense to the board of street-car 
fare only. Those from the Thornton community should be trans- 
ported to the terminus and take the street car also. 

The new finding contemplated to accommodate the children of 
Jamaica, BlacSn, and Tholman should contain at least two class- 
rooms in addition to one or two workrooms and an auditorium. The 
two white schools on St. Simons Island should also be consolidated. 
The same sort of building arrangement would be practical here and at 
Bladen so that such plans and estimates as are needed would answer 
for both places. If the board of education decides to construct per- 
manent buildings, a design for consolidated schools on the unit plan 
should be adopted. Buildings planned so that additional rooms 
could be added when necessary should be erected at once to satisfy 
immediate needs. 

One more consolidation is practical and desira.ble. The new wagon 
road now being built along the railroad to Everett will make it pos- 
sible to transport the children at Hunters Siding and to combine the 
schools of these two places. The distance will not exceed 4 miles. 
The county owns no buildings at either place. Everett is a perma- 
nent community and the county should not continue to use the 
present building, which is entirely unfit in size and arrangement for 
school purposes. A 5-acre tract should be secured and a building 
similar to the one suggested above should be erected on it as soon as 
possible. 

When these plans are carried out there will remain the children at 
Brookman and Blythe. Eventually the children at Brookman should 
be transported to the new school at Bladen. This may not be feas- 



74 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

ible at once owing to the condition of the roads. It should, how- 
ever, be done as soon as possible. For the present a one-teacher 
school will have to be retained at both places. These should be lim- 
ited to the first six grades. The present effort to have eight grades 
at Brookman makes altogether too many small classes necessary and 
is an injustice to the smaller and older children, but particularly to 
the former. There is always a tendency on the part of the teacher 
to spend too much time with upper grades. The present program 
includes 30 recitations daily, all very short. The teacher's time is 
merely dissipated by division among so many classes. The older 
children, without great expense, could be sent to the new consoli- 
dated school while the younger ones could remain as they now are 
until more satisfactory arrangements are completed. 

While these one-teacher schools remain they should be made the 
best possible schools of the kind. Ample grounds, proper buildings, 
equipment, and well- trained teachers should be supplied. A greater 
amount of ability and more training on the part of the teacher is 
necessary in one-teacher schools than in the larger schools in order to 
overcome the handicap of organization and give the children an 
opportunity for good elementary education. Teachers therefore must 
be more carefully selected and better paid than those in the consoli- 
dated or city schools. 

BUILDINGS FOR THE COLORED CHILDREN. 

The school buildings at Clayhole, Pennick, and Sterling are the 
only ones for colored children which, in the opinion of the commis- 
sion, can be made suitable for school use. In each of these unilateral 
lighting, proper heating and seating arrangements, • and the erec- 
tion of two sanitary toilets are immediate necessities. Consolidated 
schools should replace the one-room structures as soon as possible for 
the reasons given below. The plan for a new Rosenwald school com- 
bining the two schools at Union and Magnolia should not be further 
delayed. If possible, similar arrangements should be made at an 
early date for a school at St. Simons and another one consolidating 
the Everett and Clayhole schools. If not Rosenwald schools, then 
two-teacher schools erected by the board on a similar plan should be 
provided. All of these buildings should be equipped with black- 
boards and other material along the lines previously suggested. 

EQUIPMENT. 

The commission would urge that in schools for Negroes as well 
as those for the whites sanitary toilets and pure water for drinking 
purposes be insisted upon. The commission has not said more in this 
report regarding the importance of these matters because it under- 



RESULTS OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS. 75 

stands that the county board of health is rigidly to enforce its pro- 
visions concerning such matters. 

School buildings should also be well heated by hot-water heating 
furnaces, or jacketed stoves. Plenty of blackboard of some reliable 
variety — slate is best and most economical in the long run; globes, 
maps, supplementary readers, and reference books constitute the 
minimum equipment which should be procured for immediate use, 
Later, these essentials should be added to, either from public funds 
or through school and community organizations. 

12. THE SHOWING MADE B Y THE PUPILS OF BRUNSWICK AND 
GL YNN COUNT Y IN THE STANDARD EDUCATIONAL MEASURE- 
MENT TESTS GIVEN. 

Until within a decade the results of the teaching activities of the 
school, expressed in terms of the progress of children in the subjects 
which the schools offer, have been largely a matter of personal opinion. 
No educational yardstick of precise character has been at hand by 
which efficiency could be judged and the relative standing of schools or 
of classes determined. Within a few years, however, tests have been 
devised and so standardized that it is now possible, in certain lines of 
school work, to compare the achievements of schools and of systems, 
giving thereby a fairly accurate basis for the appraisal of work within 
the restricted fields wherein the tests operate. 

The commission gave four of these tests in all of the schools of 
Brunswick and in the Community school of Glynn County. The 
tests given were the Courtis test in addition, subtraction, multiplica- 
tion, and division processes operating with whole numbers; the 
Stone reasoning test in arithmetic; the Avers spelling test; and the 
Monroe's silent reading test designed to test the rate of reading and 
the degree of comprehension. Each of these tests has been given 
under exactly the same condition in schools in all parts of the United 
States and to thousands of children. The results have been carefully 
tabulated, so that school officials now know what degree of speed and 
of accuracy the great majority of children are oapable of reaching 
where the teaching practice has been efficient. By comparing the 
results which the children of the schools of Glynn obtained with the 
standard score obtained by many thousands of children, it can be 
judged, in part at least, as to how efficient in these lines the teaching 
is in Glynn. 

A. THE COURTIS TEST IN ARITHMETICAL PROCESSES. 

The series consists of four tests printed on a four-page folder, one 
test to each page. Twenty-four examples of equal difficulty are 
given in each. A time limit is set for each test, 8 minutes for the 



76 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



addition test, 4 minutes for the subtraction, 6 minutes for the multi- 
pli ation, and 8 minutes for the division test. Within these respective 
time limits each pupil tested is required to solve as many examples 
as he can. The papers are then marked for the number attempted 
(speed) and for the numbers which are correct (accuracy). In 
order that all tests may be standardized, no credit is given for ex- 
amples incomplete or partially correct. The following are sample 
exercises of the four tests; the remaining examples of each are of 
equal difficulty: 







TEST NO. 


I. ADDITION (8 MINUTES). 






927 


297 


136 


486 


384 


176 


277 


837 


379 


925 


340 


765 


477 


783 


445 


882 


756 


473 


988 


524 


881 


697 


682 


959 


837 


983 


386 


140 


266 


200 


594 


603 


924 


315 


353 


812 


679 


366 


481 


118 


110 


661 


904 


466 


241 


851 


778 


781 


854 


794 


547 


355 


796 


535 


849 


756 


965 


177 


192 


834 


850 


323 


157 


222 


344 


124 


439 


567 


733 


229 


953 


525 



115364741 
80195261 



TEST NO. 2. SUBTRACTION (4 MINUTES). 



67298125 
29346861 



92057352 

42689037 



113380936 

42556840 



3876 
93 



TEST NO. 3. MULTIPLICATION (6 MINUTES). 



9245 
86 



7368 
74 



2594 
25 



6495 
19 



TEST NO. 4. DIVISION (8 MINUTES). 



37)14467 



86)60372 



94)67774 



25)9750 



RESULTS OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS. 
THE RESULTS IN THE GLYNN COUNTY SCHOOLS. 



77 



The following tables show the results of the Courtis test among the 
schools of Glynn County: 





Addition test (time, 


8 minutes). 


Subtraction test (time, 4 
minutes). 


Schools and grades. 


Rate of speed. 


Accuracy. 


Rate of speed. 


Accuracy. 


Total 
papers. 


Median 

(at- 
tempts). 


Stand- 
ard me- 
dian 
(at- 
tempts). 


Median. 


Stand- 
ard me- 
dian. 


Median 

(at- 
tempts). 


Stand- 
ard me- 
dian 
(at- 
tempts). 


Median. 


Stand- 
ard me- 
dian. 


Glynn: 

vni 


33 
31 
63 

68 

32 

48 

17 
27 

7 
11 
24 
39 


7.2 
6.3 
5.8 
5.8 

6.4 
5.2 

5.4 
5.7 

6.8 
5.0 
5.8 
5.9 


11.6 

10.9 

9.8 

8.6 

9.8 
8.6 

10.9 
9.8 

11.6 

10.9 

9.8 

8.6 


Per ct. 
66.0 
60.0 
48.0 
40.0 

51.0 
49.0 

48.0 
50.1 

85.0 
70.0 
55.0 
54.0 


Per ct. 
76.0 
75.0 
73.0 
70.0 

73.0 
70.0 

75.0 
73.0 

76.0 
75.0 
73.0 
70.0 


9.6 
8.4 
7.9 
8.9 

10.4 
6.9 

6.0 
7.1 

10.1 
8.4 
8.6 
6.8 


12.9 


Perct. 
75.0 


Per ct. 

87. G 


VII 


11.6 66.0 

10. 3 70. 1 
9.0 68.0 

10.3 54.0 
9.0 48.8 

11.6 49.0 


86.0 


VI 


85.0 


V 


83.0 


Purvis: 

VI 


85.0 


V 


83.0 


Community: 

VII 


86.0 


VI 


10.3 

12.9 

11.6 

10.3 

9.0 


50.1 

60.0 
70.0 
66.0 
54.0 


85.0 


Risley (colored): 

VIII 


87.0 


VII 


86.0 


VI 


85.0 


V 


83.0 









Multiplication test (time, 6 miri 


utes). 


Division test (time, 8 minutes). 




Total 
papers. 


Rate of speed. 


Accuracy. 


Rate of speed. 


Accuracy. 


Schools and grades. 


Median 
rate. 


Stand- 
ard 
median 
rate. 


Median 
accu- 
racy. 


Stand- 
ard 

median 
accu- 
racy. 


Median 
rate. 


Stand- 
ard 
median 
rate. 


Median 
rate. 


Stand- 
ard 

median 
accu- 
racy. 




At- 
tempts. 


At- 
tempts. 


Per 
cent. 


Per 
cent. 


At- 
tempts. 


At- 
tempts. 


Per 
cent. 


Per 
cent. 


Glynn: 

vin 


65 
62 
63 
68 

32 
48 

17 
27 

7 

11 
24 
39 


8.5 
6.9 
6.1 
6.6 

7.3 
6.6 

4.0 
5.3 

9.0 
7.5 
8.6 
6.6 


11.5 

10.2 

9.1 

7.5 

9.1 

7.5 

10.2 
9.1 

11.5 

10.2 
9.1 
7.8 


69.9 
55.0 
68.1 
64.0 

48.0 
61.0 

41.0 
56.0 

65.0 
56.0 
60.0 
69.0 


81.0 
80.0 
78.0 
75.0 

78.0 
75.0 

80.0 
78.0 

81.0 
80.0 
78.0 
75.0 


6.7 
5.0 
4.8 
4.4 

5.8 
4.9 

4.4 
3.8 

6.0 
5.5 
4.9 
3.8 


10.7 
9.6 
8.12 
6.1 

8.2 
6.1 

9.6 

8.2 

10.7 
9.6 
8.2 
6.1 


70.0 
63.0 
79.9 
66.0 

50.0 
53.0 

38.0 
50.1 

73.0 
70.0 
50.0 
59.0 


91.0 


vn 


90.0 


VI 


87.0 


V 


77.0 


Purvis: 

VI 


87.0 


V 


77.0 


Community: 


90.0 


VI 


87.0 


Risley (colored): 

vin 


91.0 


VII 


90.0 


VI 


87.0 


V 


77.0 







OBSERVATIONS ON THE TEST. 

An examination of the foregoing tables shows that as compared 
with the standard score, obtained by examining thousands of children 
in all sections of the United States, the records made by the schools 
of Glynn are very low. This applies both to the rate of speed at 
which the children work and their accuracy. In fact, the records 



78 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNT Y, GA. 

disclose the fact that in most instances the seventh and eighth grades 
of the Glynn schools fall below the standards reached by fifth grades 
in other places. 

Drill, properly conducted and continuously carried on, is an abso- 
lute requirement for speed and accuracy in the arithmetical opera- 
tions. A motive for drilling, a thorough understanding of the steps 
involved in the drill process, regular, frequent, short repetitions with a 
maximum of attention focused on the drill, with enough variation 
of drill material to avoid any monotony, are the most important 
principles upon which to base effective drills. We believe that it is 
good practice to begin almost every arithmetic lesson with a good, 
snappy drill, which, if possible, is connected in some way with the 
day's work. Not enough of this type of activity is found in the 
Brunswick and Glynn County schools. Four or five minutes each 
day spent in this way is the most economical expenditure of time 
that can be devised. 

B. THE STONE REASONING TEST IN ARITHMETIC. 

The test in arithmetic reasoning as given follows: 

(Solve as many of the following problems as you have time for; work them in order 
as numbered.) 

1. If you buy 2 tablets at 7 cents each and a book for 65 cents, how much change 
should you receive from a two-dollar bill? (1.0.) 

2. John sold 4 Saturday Evening Posts at 5 cents each. He kept one-half the 
money and with the other half he bought Sunday papers at 2 cents each. How many 
did he buy? (1.0.) 

3. If James had 4 times as much money as George, he would have $16. How much 
money has George? (1.0.) 

4. How many pencils can you buy for 50 cents at the rate of 2 for 5 cents? (1.0.) 

5. The uniforms for a baseball nine cost $2.50 each. The shoes cost $2 a pair. 
What was the total cost of uniforms and shoes for the nine? (1.0.) 

6. In the schools of a certain city there are 2,200 pupils; one-half are in the primary 
grade, one-fourth in the grammar grades, one-eighth in the high school, and the rest 
in the night school. How many pupils are there in the night school? (1.4.) 

7. If 3^ tons of coal cost $21, what will 5£ tons cost? (1.2.) 

8. A news dealer bought some magazines for $1. He sold them for $1.20 gaining 
5 cents on each magazine. How many magazines were there? (1.6.) 

9. A girl spent one-eighth of her money for car fare, and three times as much for 
clothes. Half of what she had left was 80 cents. How much money did she have at 
first? (2.0.) 

10. Two girls receive $2.10 for making buttonholes. One makes 42, the other 28. 
How shall they divide the money? (2.0.) 

11. Mr. Brown paid one-third of the cost of a building; Mr. Johnson paid one-half 
the cost. Mr. Johnson received $500 more annual rent than Mr. Brown. How much 
did he receive? (2.0.) 

12. A freight train left Albany for New York at 6 o'clock. An express train left 
on the same track at 8 o'clock. It went at the rate of 40 miles an hour. At what 
time of day will it overtake the freight train if the freight train stops after it has gone 
56 miles? (2.0.) 

The time allowance is exactly 15 minutes. The problems are 
graded in difficulty, each problem having a score value commensu- 



RESULTS OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS. 



79 



rate with its difficulty. No credit was allowed for partially correct 
or partially complete answers. 

THE RESULTS OF THE REASONING TEST. 

The table which follows shows how the schools of Brunswick and 
of Glynn County fared in this test and in comparison with results 
obtained in other systems: 

Results of reasoning test. 



Schools and grades. 


Number 
of pupils. 


Attempts 


Rights. 


Percent- 
age of 
accuracy 


Total 

credits. 


Average 

credits 

per pupil. 


Average 
attempts 
per pupil. 


Average 

rights 

per pupil. 


Glynn: 

vm 


61 
67 
65 
73 

45 
44 

11 
13 
15 

9 

9 

23 

41 


428 
484 
445 
360 

215 
213 

61 
69 

57 

52 

48 

62 

157 


325 
311 
251 
170 

80 
80 

36 
32 
24 

30 
34 
30 
70 


75.0 
64.0 
55.0 
47.0 

36.0 
37.0 

59.0 
46.0 
42.0 

57.0 
70.0 
48.0 
44.0 


357 
332 
251 
170 

82 
80 

36 
32 
24 

30 
34 
30 
70 


5.8 
4.9 
3.8 
2.3 

1.8 
1.8 

3.2 
2.4 
1.5 

3.3 
3.7 
1.3 
1.7 


7.0 

7.2 
6.8 
4.9 

4.8 
4.8 

5.5 
5.3 
3.8 

5.7 
5.3 
2.6 
3.8 


5.3 
4 6 


vn 


VI 


3.8 

2 3' 


V 


Purvis: 

VI 


1 7 


V 


1 8 


Community: 

vn 


3 2 


VI 


2 4 


V 


1 6 


Risley (colored): 

vrn 


3 3 


vn 


3 7 


VI 


1.3 
1 7 


V 







For purposes of comparison the results obtained in other svstems 
are given below. These results are expressed in average credits per 
child. 

Average credits per child in several systems. 



Cities. 



Janesville, Wis: 

(15j000 popula- 
tion) 

Butte, Mont.: 

(40 ? 000 popula- 
tion) 

Salt Lake City 

San Francisco 

Columbia, S. C: 

White pupils 

Negro pupils 

Entire system 

Memphis: 

White pupils 

Negro pupils 

Entire system.... 



V grade. 



Median 
pupil. 



2.40 



2.20 
3.70 
2.85 



Average 
per pupil. 



2.44 
4.03 
2.40 

3.0 
1.2 

2.5 

3.2 
3.4 
3.3 



VI grade. 



Median 
pupil. 



3.40 



3.90 
6.40 
5.52 



Average 
per pupil. 



2.93 



4.24 
6.46 
4.06 

5.0 
2.6 
4.4 

4.9 

4.5 
4.8 



Vn grade. 



Median 
pupil. 



5.50 



5.80 
8.60 
5.40 



Average 
per pupil. 



5.20 



5.95 
8.86 
4.96 

6.3 
3.4 
5.6 

5.2 

6.0 
6.1 



vn grade. 



Median 
pupil. 



6.3 



7.7 

10.5 

6.8 



Average 
per pupil. 



6.48 



7.83 

10.44 

6.43 

5.4 
3.2 

4.9 

7.1 
10.1 

7.5 



C. THE AYRES SPELLING TEST. 

The test which was given from the second grade to the eighth, 
inclusive, consisted of the words for each grade taken from Ayres 
List B, of ''One Thousand Commonest Words." The words in 
each list have been spelled correctly by 73 per cent of the children 
in the respective grades in tests which have been given in many 



80 



SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 



cities. Therefore 73 per cent may be accepted as the standard for 
each grade if the teaching of spelling is to be adjudged equal to the 
average of many cities in the United States. The six tests which 
were used follow: 





Second grade. 




Third grade. Fourth gradt 


9 


Fifth grade. 


1. 


nine. 


1. 


catch. 1. eight. 




1. sometimes. 


2. 


got. 


2. 


able. 2. aboard. 




2. period. 


3. 


spring. 


3. 


fell. 3. restrain. 




3. firm. 


4. 


stone. 


4. 


soap. 4. population. 




4. crowd. 


5. 


fall. 


5. 


express. 5. figure. 




5. relative. 


6. 


Monday. 


6. 


table. 6. everything 




6. serve. 


7. 


take. 


7. 


road. 7. farther. 




7. due. 


8. 


put. 


8. 


power. 8. knew. 




8. ledge. 


9. 


its. 


9. 


another. 9. fact. 




9. information 


10. 


sold. 


10. 


church. 10. public. 




10. present. 




Sixth grade. 




Seventh grade. 




Eighth grade. 


.1. 


often. 




1. meant. 


1. 


organization. 


2. 


total. 




2. distinguish. 


2. 


emergency. 


3. 


examination. 




3. assure. 


8. 


appreciate. 


4. 


marriage. 




4. probably. 


4. 


sincerely. 


5. 


opinion. 




5. responsibility. 

6. difficulty. 


5. 


athletic. 


6. 


witness. 




6. 


extreme. 


7. 


theater. 




7. develop. 




practical. 


8. 


supply. 




8. material. 


8. 


proceed. 


9. 


course. 




9. senate. 


9. 


cordially. 


10. 


doubt. 




10. agreement. 


10. 


character. 



Result of spelling test. 








■ 


Total 
pupils. 


Total 
words 
correct. 


Per cent 
correct. 


Glynn: 

VIII 


59 
68 
65 
76 
53 
90 
90 

30 
41 
32 
34 
42 

10 
13 
15 
12 

9 
9 
25 
41 
30 
56 


443 
453 

502 
528 
318 
655 
601 

227 
274 

268 
278 
300 

68 

90 
90 
50 

64 
61 
14C 
281 
202 
412 


75.1 


VII 


66.6 


VI 


77.2 


v 


69.5 


IV 


60.0 


Ill 


72.8 


II 


66.8 


Purvis: 

VI 


75.6 


V 


66.8 


rv 


83.7 


in 


81.7 


ii 


71.4 


Community: 

VII 


63.0 


VI 


69.2 


V 


60.0 


rv 


41.7 


Risley (colored): 

VIII 


71.1 


VII 


67.7 


VI 


56.0 


V 


68.5 


IV 


67.3 


ni 


73.5 







OBSERVATIONS ON SPELLING TEST. 

Comparing the results obtained by the foregoing schools and 
grades with the standard score of 73 per cent correct, it is seen 
that several of the grades equaled or surpassed the standard score. 
In the Glynn Academy and Glynn Grammer School the eighth grade, 
the sixth grade, and the third grade were successful. In the Purvis 
School the sixth, the fourth, and the third passed the standard score. 



RESULTS OF EDUCATIONAL TESTS. 



81 



All of the grades of the Community School failed to reach even 70 
per cent, the fourth falling below that of any other grade tested. In 
the colored school but one grade, the third, reached the standard 
score. 

The range of variation as between the lowest and the highest 
scores gained by the several grades indicates that the spelling work 
of the schools is in need of coordination. Such variation suggests 
that there is a lack of teamwork among the teachers of the several 
schools and in the system at large. With careful supervision of the 
work it ought not to be difficult to eliminate much of this variation 
in results through raising the weakest grades to the general level of 
the standard score. 

D. THE MONROE SILENT READING TEST. 

This is a series of exercises designed to test both speed and com- 
prehension in reading. Some 15 exercises, printed in a folder, are 
given to each child. The following exercise is a sample to show the 
nature of the test: 

I am a little dark-skinned girl. I wear a slip of brown buckskin and a pair of soft 
moccasins. I live in a wigwam. What kind of a girl do you think I am? 

Chinese French Indian African Eskimo. 

The answer to this exercise is "Indian, " and it is to be indicated 
by drawing a line under the word. The test consists of a number 
of exercises like this one. At a given signal the children begin and 
are allowed exactly five minutes, during which time they read as 
many exercises as possible, marking the answers as indicated in 
the exercise. In this way both the rate of reading is found and the 
degree to which the child understands what he has read. The 
following table shows how the children of Glynn County did in 
comparison with the standard score, also in comparison with the 
score made by the children of the Memphis, Tenn., system. 





Results 


of the reading 


test. 












Grade III. 


Grade IV. 


Grade V. 


Schools. 


Num- 
ber of 
pupils. 


Rate 
score. 


Com- 
prehen- 
sion 
score. 


Num- 
ber of 
pupils. 


Rate 
score. 


Com- 
prehen- 
sion 
score. 


Num- 
ber of 
pupils. 


Rate 
score. 


Com- 
prehen- 
sion 
score. 


Standard score 


6,455 
1.021 

87 
38 


52 
68 
44 
44 


7.2 
8 9 
3 
4 


6, 5S9 

1,010 

72 

31 

19 


7.3 

80.1 
67 
5.9 
44 


13 

18.2 

10 

8 

6 


6,203 
1,098 
73 
49 
13 
44 


89 

91.3 

85 

76 

67 

59 


19 


Memphis score (white) 

( ! lynn 


14. S 
15 


Purvis 


14 


Community 


11 


Risley 








10 




















Grade VI. 


Grade VII. 


Grade VIII. 


Standard score 

Memphis score (white) 

Glynn 


5.732 
1,029 
64 
31 
17 
24 


88 

113.2 
88 
81 
69 
81 


20 

17.3 

18 

19 

15 

13 


4,614 

750 

62 


99 

114.7 
98 


23 

20.6 
23 


3,825 

613 

60 


106 

136.6 
106 


26.4 
23.9 
23.0 


Purvis 




Community 


10 

10 


69 

81 


16 

18 








Risley (colored) 


7 


98 


20.0 







10178°— 20- 



82 SCHOOLS OF BRUNSWICK AND OF GLYNN COUNTY, GA. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE READING TEST. 

In the rate of reading — that is, in the amount covered in the pre- 
scribed time, a glance at the preceding table will show that with the 
exception of the sixth and eightjti grades of the Glynn school the 
grades of all the schools in comparison with the standard score stood 
low, most of them being very low indeed. In the rating for compre- 
hension only the seventh grade of the Glynn school reached the 
standard, the scores of all other grades likewise being very low. In 
general the grades of the Glynn grammar school did better in this 
test than did corresponding grades in the other schools. 

The results of this test show that teachers should be giving much 
attention in their reading and language work to thought getting. 
Evidently the reading of the children is too mechanical and that not 
enough time is given to teaching the children how to get at the mean- 
ing of the authors of the exercises which they read. 

WHAT THE FOREGOING TESTS SHOW. 

These four tests show that in comparison with what children are 
uniformly getting in other school systems the children of the schools 
of Glynn County are not making the progress in the subjects tested 
which they should be making. These tests also reinforce and em- 
phasize the criticism passed upon the work of the schools in other 
parts of this report. Likewise in other connections we have suggested 
wherein the system can be administered to bring the work of the 
classroom increasingly to a higher level of efficiency. All of which is 
to the end that the children educated in the schools of Brunswick and 
of Glynn County shall have as good an opportunity for an efficient 
schooling as shall children living in more favored sections of the 
United States. It is confidently believed that if the suggestions con- 
tained in this report are carried out with intelligence, in a very few 
years the work of the schools can be placed on a plane which will com- 
pare favorably with the work of any system. But the accomplish- 
ment of this will require hard, thoughtful, and very earnest work of 
the entire school corps. It also demands that the schools of the 
county receive more generous support than they now do. In no 
other way can the children now living in this county be given that 
which other communities are giving their children. 

o 



/ 



Caylord Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse, N. Y. 

PAT. JAN. 21,1908 









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